MISSION 
1 'ITECTVRE 

EXAMPLIFIED  IN 
SAN  XAVIER 
1  DEL  BAG 


§ 


t  IB 


PRENT  DUELL 


BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

<> 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


MISSION  ARCHITECTUEE 

AS  EXAMPLIFIED  IN 
SAN  XAVIER  DEL  BAC 


INCLUDING  A  COMPLETE  LIST  OF  THE  MISSIONS  IN  THE 
SOUTHWEST;  ALSO  A  BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  THE  MANU- 
SCRIPTS AND  WORKS  PERTAINING  TO  THE  SUBJECT 


BY 

PRENT  DUELL,  A.M. 


ILLUSTRATED 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 

ARIZONA  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  AND  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 
TUCSON,  ARIZONA 

1919 


F% 


Copyright,  1919 
By  PRENT  DUELL 


PRESS  OF 

THE  NEW  ERA  PRINTING  COMPANY 
LANCASTER,  PA. 


TO  MY  MOTHER 


PREFACE. 

SOMEONE  has  said  that  the  ignoring  of  an  author's  pref- 
ace is  very  much  like  appearing  indifferent  upon  an  in- 
troduction to  the  author  himself;  however  that  may  be, 
if  you  are  so  generously  polite  or,  perhaps,  so  negligent  of 
time  as  to  be  reading  these  few  words,  let  me  take  this 
opportunity  of  cautioning  you  beforehand  that  this  is 
one  of  the  first  works  really  to  attempt  the  analysis  and 
study  of  mission  architecture.  The  field  is  practically 
unknown  and  there  is  no  precedent  to  follow. 

However,  since  the  beauties  and  charm  of  mission  archi- 
tecture have  become  more  widely  known,  a  great  need  has 
been  experienced  among  architects  during  the  last  few 
years  for  accurate  drawings  and  descriptions  of  the  best 
types  of  missions.  Few  architects  of  today  can  afford  to 
devote  the  time  necessary  to  making  such  drawings  and 
studies,  and  I  deem  myself  fortunate  that  peculiar  condi- 
tions have  allowed  me  a  year  of  leisure,  which  I  unhesi- 
tatingly devoted  to  such  study. 

I  trust  I  have  done  well  in  selecting  for  study  the  greatest 
and  finest  of  the  missions,  San  Xavier  del  Bac.  It  is  a 
Mission  not  generally  known,  and  never  before  have  any 
plans  been  drawn  from  it.  For  that  matter,  scarcely  any 
of  the  missions  have  been  studied  to  any  great  extent' 
although  something  has,  at  times,  been  written  about  them, 
especially  the  California  "  Chain" ;  but  even  in  this  case  more 
with  a  view  to  general  description,  concerned  with  little  or 
no  architectural  or  archaeological  study. 

As  architecture  and  not  history  is  the  motif  of  the  book, 
I  have  reviewed  no  original  manuscripts,  but  rather  trusted 


MISSION  ARCHITECTURE. 

to  recognized  literal  translations.  Much  historical  data, 
directly  relating  to  San  Xavier,  has  been  derived  from 
the  partial  translation  of  Kino's  "lost"  manuscript,  which 
was  lately  rediscovered  by  Dr.  Herbert  E.  Bolton  of  the 
University  of  California.  Besides,  I  enjoyed  the  rare 
privilege  of  going  over  the  two  original  registers  of  San 
Xavier,  used  by  each  padre  in  turn,  covering  a  period  of 
almost  two  hundred  years. 

To  the  Right  Reverend  Henry  Granjon,  Bishop  of  Tuc- 
son, I  am  deeply  indebted  both  for  his  permission  to  study 
and  work  in  the  mission,  and  for  his  kind  assistance  in 
studying  its  history.  To  Dr.  George  Wharton  James,  who 
has  been  a  great  inspiration,  I  wish  to  express  thanks  for 
his  help  with  the  work  in  general;  also  to  Mr.  Henry  0. 
Jaastad,  the  architect,  who  has  rendered  me  valuable 
service  in  many  ways.  It  has  been  my  good  fortune 
to  do  much  of  this  work  in  a  university  atmosphere  and  I 
hasten  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  Professor 
Byron  Cummings,  Professor  L.  A.  Waterbury,  Dr.  Frank 
C.  Lockwood,  Dr.  R.  H.  Forbes  and  Dr.  A.  E.  Douglass, 
all  of  the  University  of  Arizona.  Their  kind  interest  and 
help  did  much  towards  the  accomplishment  of  this  work. 

PRENT  DUELL. 

TUCSON,  ARIZONA, 
August  1,  1917. 


VI 


CONTENTS. 

Page 
I.  PREAMBLE 1 

II.  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MISSION  ARCHITECTURE 8 

III.  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  MISSION  ARCHITECTURE 27 

IV.  SAN  XAVIER  DEL  BAG 47 

1.  History 56 

2.  Description 74 

3.  Architecture 101 

4.  Construction 108 

V.  COMPLETE  LIST  OF  MISSIONS  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST  .  .  .  125 

VI.  BIBLIOGRAPHY  . .  132 


Vll 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

San  Xavier  del  Bac  as  it  stands  today facing  1 

San  Luis  Rey  Mission 3 

San  Jose  de  Aguayo 5 

San  Jose  de  Tumacacori 7 

Monterey  Mission 17 

Dolores  or  San  Francisco  de  Assisi  Mission 19 

Guevavi  in  1880 20 

San  Carlos  Mission 21 

Fagade  of  San  Jose  de  Tumacacori  Mission  in  1880 22 

Santa  Rarbara  Mission 24 

San  Xavier  del  Rac  about  1868 25 

San  Xavier  del  Rac 28 

Staircase,  San  Gabriel  Mission 30 

San  Ruenaventura  Mission 31 

San  Gabriel  Mission 33 

Rell  Tower  of  Pala  Chapel 36 

Chapel  Door,  Santa  Barbara  Mission 39 

Entrance,  San  Gabriel  Mission 40 

Corridor  of  Santa  Rarbara  Mission 42 

Doorway  with  Three  Skulls,  Santa  Rarbara  Mission 43 

Mortuary  Chapel,  San  Jose  de  Tumacacori 44 

Staircase  of  San  Luis  Rey  Mission 46 

San  Xavier  del  Rac  before  Restoration 48 

San  Xavier  Mission,  General  View 55 

Pedro  Roj8,  the  Name  of  the  Ruilder  on  Sacristal  Door  ...  68 

San  Jose  del  Tucson  in  1885 71 

San  Xavier  del  Bac  about  1897 75 

Detail  of  Main  Entrance,  San  Xavier  del  Bac 77 

Statuette  on  Ornamental  Gable,  St.  Cecelia 79 

The  Nave,  San  Xavier  del  Bac 81 

ix 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Apse  and  Gospel  Chapel,  San  Xavier  del  Bac 84 

Main  Altar  and  Pulpit,  San  Xavier  del  Bac 87 

Confessional  Chair  and  Musical  Wheel,  San  Xavier  del  Bac  88 

Apse  and  Epistle  Chapel,  San  Xavier  del  Bac 90 

Belfry  and  Parapet  Wall,  San  Xavier  del  Bac 95 

View  of  Nave  from  Chair  Loft,  San  Xavier  del  Bac 99 

Front  Elevation,  San  Xavier  del  Bac 100 

Detail  of  Main  Altar,  San  Xavier  del  Bac 104 

Ornamental  Gable  about  Main  Entrance,  San  Xavier  del  Bac  107 

Floor  Plan  with  Dimensions,  San  Xavier  del  Bac 109 

West  Elevation  of  Church,  San  Xavier  del  Bac 110 

Dome  and  Drum,  San  Xavier  del  Bac 114 

San  Jose  de  Tumacacori,  looking  towards  Entrance 115 

Construction  of  Arches,  San  Jose  de  Tumacacori 117 

An  Indian  Home  in  the  Desert 121 

Detail  Drawings 122,  123,  124 


The  old  pictures  of  San  Xavier  are  from  the   Albert 
Buehman  Collection. 


PREAMBLE. 

IN  our  assiduous  study  of  the  history  of  the  Thirteen 
Colonies,  the  generals  of  the  Revolution  and  the  soldiers  of 
Valley  Forge, — all  legitimate  and  necessary, — we  are  apt 
to  ignore  the  conditions  on  the  other  side  of  the  continent. 
To  be  sure,  the  incidents  of  our  history  at  that  time  are 
not  directly  connected;  but  it  would  be  well  if  the  student 
knew  the  contemporary  events  of  history  in  connection 
with  his  own  country,  especially  at  a  time  of  such  signifi- 
cance that  it  determined  the  history  of  years  to  come. 
We  may  consider  the  noble  soldiers  of  Valley  Forge  and  the 
intrepid  padres  of  the  Southwest,  each  oblivious  of  the 
other,  in  their  separate  way  moulding  what  was  destined 
to  be  joined  into  one  great  united  nation.  It  would  be  well 
if  the  young  student  of  American  history,  engrossed  with 
the  barefoot  and  shivering  soldiers  of  Valley  Forge,  might 
also  have  his  attention  directed  to  the  pious  padres  tramp- 
ing across  the  scorching  desert  with  blistered  feet  and  with- 
out the  sight  of  running  water  for  days  at  a  time. 

In  many  cases,  the  priests  chosen  for  such  work  were 
carefully  selected  from  among  the  best  the  colleges  afforded ; 
and  Father  Kino,  of  whom  further  mention  will  be  made, 
was  on  the  faculty  of  Ingolstadt  College  and  world-renowned 
as  a  scholar  before  he  entered  the  Jesuit  Order  and  gave 
his  life  to  the  mission  cause. 

"If  God  our  Lord  is  pleased  that  you  find  any  large 
town  where  it  seems  to  you  that  there  is  a  good  opportunity 
for  establishing  a  convent,  and  of  sending  religious  men 
to  be  employed  in  the  conversion,  you  are  to  advise  me  by 
Indians,  or  to  return  in  person  to  Culiancan.  With  all 

i 


2  MISSION  ARCHITECTURE. 

secrecy  you  are  to  give  notice,  that  preparations  be  made 
without  delay,  because  the  service  of  our  Lord  and  the  good 
of  the  people  of  the  land  is  the  aim  of  the  pacification  of 
whatever  is  discovered."  Such  was  the  simple  farewell 
to  the  meek  son  of  Francis  of  Loyola  from  his  Vicar-General. 
Then  he  departed  into  the  great  desert,  with  the  Cross  and 
Rosary,  bent  on  the  destruction  of  idols  and  the  conquest 
of  souls.  But  seldom  was  he  seen  again.  The  missions 
mark  his  path  and  labors  among  the  Indians,  and  even 
today,  in  the  quiet  of  the  ruins,  his  very  presence  is  felt, 
breathing  a  blessing. 

The  borders  of  "New  Spain"  or  "El  Nuevo  Reino  del 
San  Francisco,"  as  Father  Marcos  de  Niza  called  it,  were 
in  no  way  fixed,  but  the  general  field  of  activities  comprised, 
besides  Mexico  and  Lower  California,  much  of  what  is 
now  California,  Arizona,  New  Mexico  and  Texas.  In 
this  work  we  are  particularly  interested  in  the  territory 
then  known  as  Pimeria  Alta,  which  comprised  the  northern 
part  of  Sonora  and  the  southern  part  of  Arizona,  or,  to  be 
more  exact,  the  land  between  the  Altar  and  Gila  rivers. 
The  three  Orders  of  the  Church  that  labored  in  the  terri- 
tory of  New  Spain  were  the  Jesuits,  the  Franciscans,  and  the 
Dominicans.  The  first  found  their  chief  work  in  Southern 
California,  Old  and  New  Mexico,  and  Arizona;  the  second 
in  Sonora,  Texas,  California  (Alta)  and  Arizona,  and  the 
third  in  Old  Mexico  and  Lower  California. 

Considering  the  present  boundaries  of  the  United  States, 
New  Mexico  was  the  first  scene  of  mission  activity,  the 
first  mission  being  built  as  early,  perhaps,  as  1630.  These 
missions  were  modest  adobe  structures  and  flourished 
until  1680,  when  they  were  all  completely  destroyed  by  the 
Indians,  and  most  of  the  white  inhabitants  massacred. 


4  MISSION  ARCHITECTURE. 

This  was  the  greatest  uprising  suffered  by  the  padres  and 
was  due  entirely  to  the  arrogance  and  intolerance  of  the 
Spanish  settlers.  The  missions  of  Texas  and  Arizona  were 
not  begun  for  twenty  years  or  more  later,  while  those  of 
California  were  not  begun  until  the  advent  of  the  Francis- 
cans in  1768.  The  missions  of  Old  Mexico  will  not  be 
considered,  though,  at  first  they  were  missions  in  every 
sense  of  the  word.  They,  however,  were  nearer  civiliza- 
tion and  gradually  lost  their  position  as  outposts,  being 
replaced  in  many  cases  by  community  churches. 

In  order  to  begin  properly  the  study  of  architecture,  one 
must  carefully  consider  all  of  the  missions  and  then  select 
the  most  representative;  must  take  this  particular  mission 
as  the  criterion  and  judge  the  others  by  it.  Of  the  Cali- 
fornia chain,  San  Luis  Rey  unquestionably  holds  first 
place  from  the  standpoint  of  architecture.  In  Arizona, 
San  Xavier  del  Bac  and  San  Jose  de  Tumacacori  are  both 
excellent  examples,  but  San  Xavier  easily  holds  first  place. 
San  Jose  de  Aguayo  of  Texas  was  the  greatest  mission 
east  of  the  Rio  Grande,  but  is  now  completely  in  ruins; 
besides,  it  may  almost  be  considered  as  Spanish  Colonial 
on  account  of  its  proximity  to  Mexico.  But  though  it 
were  not  eliminated,  still  it  would  not  rank  as  high  as 
San  Xavier  or  even  San  Luis  Rey.  These  two  latter  mis- 
sions stand  as  the  best  examples  of  the  pure  mission  style. 

San  Luis  Rey  had  never  the  individual  importance  of 
San  Xavier  nor  did  it  ever  attain  so  high  a  state  of  archi- 
tectural perfection.  It  remained  always  merely  a  link  in 
the  California  chain,  while  San  Xavier,  on  the  other  hand, 
stood  quite  alone  and  held  a  most  important  post.  The 
Arizona  chain  was  more  a  figure  of  speech;  in  fact,  the  only 
missions  which  survived  and  constituted  the  chain  were 


6  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

Guevavi,  San  Jose  de  Tumacacori,  and  San  Xavier.  The 
great  significance  of  San  Xavier  was  recognized  and  it 
was  designed  and  built  accordingly.  Furthermore,  it 
partook  of  the  style  of  Mexico  at  a  period  when  that  native 
Aztec  influence  best  lent  itself  to  the  style  which  finally 
developed  into  what  is  known  as  Mission  Architecture. 

It  was  during  the  decline  of  Spanish  and  Mexican  archi- 
tecture that  the  missions  of  Southern  California  were  given 
their  final  form.  They  had  been  built  and  rebuilt  with 
no  great  assurance  of  safety,  as  nothing  elaborate  was 
attempted  until  a  firm  foothold  was  secured.  All  the  varied 
styles  found  among  the  missions  may  be  traced  directly 
to  Mexico.  The  Moslems  had  brought  many  styles  to- 
gether under  their  domain,  and  Spain  was  in  the  most 
propitious  position  to  enjoy  the  best  they  offered.  Later 
the  trans-atlantic  colony  borrowed  directly  the  best  archi- 
tectural qualities  in  evidence  in  the  mother  country.  The 
mission  fields  of  the  Southwest  were  then  a  part  of  Mexico, 
but  the  padres  were  too  distant  from  the  base  of  supplies 
to  receive  much  more  than  moral  support.  They  did 
their  best  to  imitate  the  styles  in  vogue;  but  such  a  thing 
was  quite  impossible — hence  Mission  architecture. 


DEVELOPMENT    OF    MISSION    ARCHITECTURE. 

THERE  is  nothing  that  we  may  call  really  new  in  archi- 
tecture. One  may  search  the  history  of  architecture  or 
study  the  great  buildings  of  the  world,  and  he  will  find  the 
subject  marked  by  a  consistent  and  sober  development, 
everything  intrinsically  related.  All  forms  go  back  to 
the  lintel  and  post  or  the  arch  and  dome,  each  perfect  in 
itself,  for  Nature  gave  them  to  primitive  man. 

Architecture  is  essentially  a  fine  art,  but  one  not  creative 
in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word.  The  peculiar  virtues  of 
a  style  may  be  handled  in  many  ways  according  to  the 
temperaments  of  the  various  architects,  but  the  funda- 
mentals, ever-existing  and  unalterable,  must  remain  much 
the  same.  The  Sainte  Chapelle  is  Gothic  and  so  is  Mont 
Saint  Michael;  yet  they  are  totally  unlike  in  treatment. 
To  take  a  more  modern  example,  the  work  of  McKim, 
Meade  and  White  has  often  been  criticised  as  being  nothing 
more  than  a  transplanting  of  Greek  and  Italian  Renais- 
sance monuments  to  New  York  City.  This,  however,  is 
a  rather  naive  criticism  not  likely  to  come  from  a  competent 
and  esoteric  critic.  Their  motifs  of  inspiration  may  be 
found  in  those  trans-atlantic  fields,  but  the  architects 
themselves  are  quite  inculpable,  as  their  treatment  is 
original. 

The  time  worn  adage  that  the  Greeks  were  great  because 
they  copied  no  one,  appears  ridiculous  in  the  light  of  a 
little  erudition.  Theirs  was  truly  the  noblest  of  archi- 
tecture, yet  they  undoubtedly  borrowed  many  of  their 
ideas  from  the  Egyptians  and  other  early  peoples. 

8 


DEVELOPMENT.  9 

In  the  study  of  the  architecture  of  every  land,  we  must 
logically  go  elsewhere  to  find  its  beginnings.  No  great 
architecture  can  spring  into  full  blossom  on  its  embryal 
spot;  to  develop  perfection  it  must  judiciously  borrow  and 
unconsciously  make  its  influence  felt.  Architecture  is  the 
one  exception  among  the  fine  arts  in  that  it  wholly  perpe- 
tuates and  does  not,  in  the  full  meaning  of  the  term,  inno- 
vate; in  other  words,  it  can  never  be  altogether  original. 

To  study  mission  architecture,  one  must  necessarily  go 
to  Mexico,  the  center  from  which  the  padres  radiated. 
It  is  here  that  the  prototypes  of  the  missions  are  found. 
Yet  Mexico  was  newly  settled  by  the  Spaniards,  who 
brought  their  architecture  with  them;  so  we  must  not  tarry 
in  Mexico  but  cross  directly  to  Spain.  Here  we  find  pecu- 
liar conditions.  The  Ibernians  at  an  early  date  found 
themselves  under  Roman  rule;  then  they  were  subjugated 
in  turn  both  by  the  Visigoths  and  the  Moslems.  It  can 
hardly  be  otherwise  than  that  their  architecture  is  by  no 
means  unified.  The  Teutonic  influence  from  the  north 
later  stimulated  the  Gothic  feeling;  the  Moors,  being  con- 
fined by  the  Christians  to  the  south,  developed  their  Moro- 
Hispanic  style;  while  the  central  plateau  about  the  capital 
Madrid,  in  close  association  with  the  courts  of  Europe, 
caught  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance. 

The  Moor  nevertheless  made  himself  extensively  felt; 
but  because  of  his  natural  incapacity  for  expressing  him- 
self artistically,  he  usually  had  those  in  subjugation  carry 
out  his  ideas.  We  therefore  have  in  every  land  under 
Mohammedan  domination  a  style  of  architecture,  each 
different  from  the  others,  but  all  related  under  the  Eastern 
spirit,  and  all,  save  Persia,  based  on  Christian  styles. 

We,  therefore,  must  trace  the  architecture  of  the  mission 


10  MISSION  ARCHITECTURE 

as  well  as  its  religious  history  back  to  the  very  beginning 
of  the  Christian  era,  for  we  find  the  basilican,  the  Roman- 
esque, and  the  Byzantine  types  all  directing  their  influence 
in  the  building  up  of  a  style  which  later  came  under  Moor- 
ish rule. 

As  the  Roman  temple  could  hardly  be  adapted  to  the 
Christian  ritual,  so  Western  Christendom  adopted  the  simple 
rectangular  basilica  for  its  church  and  the  rotunda  for  its 
mortuary  chapel  and  baptistry,  though  both  might  be 
included  in  the  body  of  the  church.  Across  the  front  was 
placed  the  narthex,  the  space  reserved  for  those  who,  as 
it  were,  had  not  a  sufficient  degree  of  purity  to  enter  with 
the  others.  Before  the  church  itself  was  the  atrium,  often 
surrounded  by  a  wall. 

The  basilica,  the  first  expression  of  Christian  architec- 
ture, is  often  thought  as  typical  of  the  early  stages  of  the 
Romanesque  style,  which  marks  the  transition  from  the 
Roman  to  the  Gothic,  or  the  connecting  link  between  the 
pagan  temple  and  the  Christian  cathedral.  The  Greek 
characteristics  had  been  the  architectural  order  and  the 
lintel;  the  Roman  was  a  compromise  of  the  two,  employing 
besides  a  daring  use  of  the  arch  and  dome,  while  the  Roman- 
esque developed  wholly  into  an  arcuated  and  vaulted  style. 

In  the  meantime,  Byzantine  Christendom  about  Con- 
stantinople was  developing  the  basilica  into  a  distinct 
style  under  Eastern  architects.  As  the  Romanesque  was 
a  transition  from  the  Roman  to  the  Gothic,  so  was  Byzan- 
tine a  transition  from  the  Roman  to  the  Saracenic.  Though 
it  never  fully  developed,  even  after  a  most  brilliant  begin- 
ning, it  was  a  great  factor  in  determining  the  styles  to  come. 
It  was  the  first  to  set  stress  against  stress  and  was  undoubt- 
edly the  prototype  of  the  flying  buttress;  but  its  greatest 
stride  was  the  setting  of  the  dome  on  pendentives. 


DEVELOPMENT.  11 

The  plan  was  usually  cruciform,  with  a  large  dome  over 
the  crossing  of  the  nave  and  transepts.  The  dome  was 
the  nucleus  of  the  whole  design,  with  the  ceiling  a  series 
of  vaults  either  barrel  or  groined.  The  apse  (sometimes 
three,  corresponding  to  an  aisle  on  either  side  of  the  nave) 
faced  the  east,  and  a  screen  separated  it  from  the  nave. 
Before  the  screen  and  to  the  left  was  the  pulpit.  A  nar- 
thex  extended  across  the  front  part  of  the  nave  with  a 
gallery  above,  and  usually  in  front  of  the  church  was  an 
atrium. 

In  the  Eastern  basilica,  moreover,  timber  was  neglected 
and  the  vaults  laid  up  entirely  of  brick.  The  Byzantines 
retained  much  from  the  Romans  in  the  way  of  construc- 
tion, save  the  use  of  brick  rather  than  concrete.  They  also 
took  over  the  Roman  interior  decoration  of  mosaics,  marble 
veneering,  and  slight  wall  incrustation;  and  under  the 
Eastern  hand  it  developed  to  a  high  state  of  perfection. 
The  walls  were  covered  with  mosaics  of  great  beauty  on  a 
ground  of  gold,  in  keeping  with  a  somewhat  gaudy  Oriental 
splendor.  In  the  case  of  the  smaller  churches,  frescoes 
took  the  place  of  the  gorgeous  mosaics.  Carvings  were 
done  in  low  relief  and  mouldings  had  little  part  in  the  dec- 
oration. The  motifs  were  for  the  most  part  symbolical, 
and  ornamentation  for  its  own  sake  was  scarcely  employed. 

The  Byzantine  style  was  developing  with  great  promise, 
and  first  traces  of  the  Gothic  style  being  felt  in  France 
(or  perhaps  England),  when  the  Mohammedan  began  his 
phenomenal  conquests.  He  united  much  territory  under 
his  sway,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  had  each  subject  people 
carry  out  his  innate  aesthetic  ideas  which  he  could  not 
express  for  himself.  A  point  of  great  interest  here  is  that 
he  learned  from  the  Persians  the  rare  art  of  covering  his 


12  MISSION  ARCHITECTURE. 

domes  with  brilliant  glazed  tiles  of  many  colors,  an  art 
which  he  carried  with  him  into  other  lands.  Much  of  his 
work  being  done  by  Byzantine  workmen,  it  is  evident  that 
soon  Byzantine  influence,  too,  would  be  felt  in  Spain. 
Here  the  Moors  found  a  people  equal  to  any  architectural 
task  they  might  assign  them.  But  the  Mohammedan 
faith,  in  so  far  as  it  discouraged  riches  and  worldly  posses- 
sions, had  little  effect  in  Spain.  Riches  and  extravagance 
marked  a  period  of  great  architectural  splendor,  which 
culminated  only  in  the  fall  of  Granada,  the  incomparable. 

Certain  characteristics  are  common  to  all  styles  of  Moor- 
ish architecture,  each  being  preeminently  Asiatic  in  spirit 
and  largely  a  matter  of  superficial  decoration,  bewildering 
and  often  incoherent.  Unlike  the  Byzantine  style,  the 
constructive  sense  is  of  little  moment.  Brilliant  colors, 
broken  up  into  small  units  and  spread  over  large  areas  of 
surface,  gave  an  altogether  splendid  effect.  Conventional 
forms  of  decoration,  evolved  by  a  temperament  mathe- 
matically and  philosophically  inclined,  were  developed  into 
a  system  of  geometrical  decoration,  unique  and  ingenious. 
There  is  yard  after  yard  of  intricate  repetition,  where 
monotony  is  relieved  only  by  the  natural  inequality  of 
the  material,  which,  in  fact,  is  the  saving  grace  in  all  such 
ceramic  work;  whereas  it  is  the  absence  of  this  inequality 
which  makes  stamped  and  stenciled  work  intolerable. 

Pictorial  art  and  sculpture  have  no  place  in  Moorish 
architecture,  and  the  Moor  had  an  innate  aversion  to  all 
forms  of  art  associated  with  idolatry.  To  him,  religious 
decoration  and  images  were  symbolical  of  the  hated  Chris- 
tian church.  His  great  mosques  in  Spain  are  filled  with 
decorations  highly  elaborate,  yet  wholly  abstract,  a  mere 
surface  decoration.  Arches  are  carried  to  a  great  height, 


DEVELOPMENT.  13 

and  one  notes  a  general  absence  of  domical  and  vaulted 
construction,  as  wood  was  employed  rather  than  brick. 
Courtyards  of  great  charm,  with  fountains  and  covered 
galleries,  are  distinctive  and  interesting  features.  Little 
attention  was  given  to  the  exterior,  which  usually  appears 
an  ungainly  pile  of  masonry  with  little  or  no  pretense  at 
design. 

Soon,  however,  European  influence  began  to  be  felt,  and 
the  Gothic  sense  of  construction  merged  with  the  Moorish 
in  what  is  known  as  the  Mudejar  style.  From  the  four- 
teenth century  on,  we  have  a  more  consistent  and  balanced 
structure.  Later  examples  show  the  coming  Renaissance, 
which  Spain  endeavored  to  perfect  to  its  own  taste.  Mass 
rather  than  detail  was  emphasized;  the  decoration  was 
generally  confined  to  the  entrance  and,  to  some  extent, 
to  the  windows,  while  the  walls  were  left  strikingly  blank. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  Renaissance  it  took  the  form 
of  the  Plateresque,  or  the  style  of  the  silversmiths.  The 
term  is  well  applied.  The  decoration  does  resemble  very 
much  the  designs  of  a  silversmith  in  its  feeling  of  chiselled 
elaboration.  For  the  most  part  it  is  overdone,  but  a  few 
of  the  best  examples  are  very  effective.  Spain  had  become 
overrich  and  its  architecture  was  rapidly  degenerating 
into  styles  never  before  equaled  in  unprincipled  and  mean- 
ingless decoration,  much  in  keeping  with  a  court  life  full 
of  sham  and  of  mere  strife  after  appearance.  This  later 
style,  known  as  the  Churrigueresque,  has  no  intrinsic  value 
and  little  interest.  Unfortunately,  it  bears  the  name  of  an 
architect  not  wholly  responsible,  but  upon  whose  head 
nevertheless  rest  the  monstrosities  perpetrated  in  this 
period. 

The  Mudejar  and  Plateresque  were  the  styles  carried 


14  MISSION  ARCHITECTURE. 

into  Mexico  by  the  Spaniards  under  Cortez,  though  the 
Churrigueresque  made  its  influence  felt  later.  In  Mexico, 
the  conquerors,  though  imbued  with  the  architecture  of 
their  native  land,  found  themselves  building  upon  the  styles 
of  a  vanquished  people  and  furthermore,  styles  peculiarly 
in  keeping  with  the  Moro-Hispanic  feeling.  The  archi- 
tecture of  the  subjugated  Aztec  was  the  barbaric  expres- 
sion of  a  semi-civilized  race.  It  was  highly  colored  and 
ornate  with  a  heavy  and  grotesque  decoration,  though 
not  without  some  naive  charm. 

At  first,  the  work  of  the  conquerors  took  more  the  form 
of  fortifications,  as  the  Aztecs  did  not  humbly  submit. 
When  a  firmer  hold  had  been  attained,  the  Spaniards  turned 
to  the  styles  in  vogue  in  their  native  land,  regrettably  then 
pervaded  by  a  riot  of  classicism.  Much  of  the  early  work 
in  Mexico  still  remains  as  examples  of  classic  abortion. 
By  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  classic  features 
began  to  take  some  proportion  and  there  is  evidence  of  a 
native  tendency  to  color  and  ornamentation  not  displeas- 
ing. It  is  in  this  period  that  we  find  the  best  examples 
of  Spanish-colonial  architecture. 

The  decorative  art  of  the  Aztec  had  to  make  its  influence 
felt  sooner  or  later.  The  Moor  had  expressed  himself 
in  much  the  same  manner,  and  the  Spaniard  was  not  slow 
in  developing  it.  Besides,  the  Plateresque  proved  too 
delicate  for  the  native  workmen;  so  the  depraved  Chur- 
rigueresque was  willingly  accepted,  which,  along  with  the 
crowded  Aztec  carvings,  gave  the  architecture  of  Mexico 
an  impulse  that  sent  her  headlong  to  utter  absurdity  and 
ruin. 

The  gabled  entrance  became  a  mass  of  vulgar  decora- 
tion and  an  abundance  of  bizarre  color.  Classic  features 


DEVELOPMENT.  15 

were  again  dwarfed  into  obscure  ornament,  straight  lines 
were  broken,  and  immense  spirals  in  low  relief  subtended 
across  the  fachada.  They  multiplied  and  broke  their 
colored  ornament  for  the  pure  joy  it  gave  them  to  see  its 
sparkle  in  the  sunlight  on  their  white  walls.  Domes  were 
in  abundance,  covered  with  designs  in  polychrome  tile. 

The  basis  of  Mexican  church  design  is  the  cruciform 
plan,  with  a  dome  rising  on  a  low  drum  over  the  crossing 
and  usually  surmounted  by  a  small  lantern.  Barrel  vault- 
ing and  segmental  domes  are  employed,  the  whole  struc- 
ture often  being  constructed  entirely  of  brick.  Here  one 
immediately  recognizes  a  combination  of  the  Byzantine 
and  Moorish  styles,  merged  into  one  unified  design.  The 
belfry  takes  a  prominent  place,  as  Mexico  was  then  a 
clockless  country.  Its  simplest  form  is  the  "wall  belfry," 
formed  by  carrying  up  the  wall  to  a  height  above  the  roof 
and  piercing  it  with  arched  openings  to  contain  the  bells. 
Of  course,  in  the  case  of  cathedrals,  large  towers  were 
affixed,  built  up  to  a  great  height  by  the  superposition  of 
several  stories,  the  higher  ones  containing  the  bells.  The 
rainfall  is  drained  off  by  valleys  which  terminate  in  plain 
gargoyles,  or  more  often  in  the  ever-present  canalles. 

The  interiors  are  highly  ornate,  savoring  of  the  Moorish 
in  general  form  and  Byzantine  in  decoration.  The  anti- 
pathy of  the  Moors  for  the  symbolic  decorations  of  the 
Christians,  led  them  to  devote  much  of  their  energy  to 
the  development  of  such  architectural  forms  as  fantastic 
arches  and  domes,  as  well  as  geometric  decoration.  Many 
fine  mosaics  and  frescoes  beautify  the  walls  of  the  cathe- 
drals, while  the  individual  paintings  have  always  been  a 
source  of  delight  and  perplexity  to  connoiseurs.  During 
the  years  of  dissension,  the  history  in  connection  with  the 


16  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

various  pictures  has  been  lost,  and  time  has  stolen  away 
the  names  of  the  artists.  That  many  are  the  work  of 
European  masters  cannot  be  denied,  as  many  objects 
of  art  are  known  to  have  been  brought  from  Spain  to  the 
New  World  to  fill  the  churches.  The  search  for  Murrillos 
in  Mexico  is  a  fascinating  story,  and  the  surprising  number 
brought  forth  is  most  amusing. 

Mission  architecture  is  based  entirely  upon  the  Spanish- 
Colonial  style  of  Mexico,  with  a  rich  heritage  of  the  best 
architectures  of  Europe,  which  culminated  under  the  hand 
of  the  Moor;  an  architecture  at  once  containing  all  these 
styles,  yet  itself  an  individual  style.  Its  very  limitations 
mark  it  a  distinct  type.  Had  the  padres  been  able  to  build 
as  they  wished,  we  should  have  had  Spanish- Colonial 
architecture;  they  fell  short  in  their  intentions,  and  the 
Mission  style  was  the  result.  In  other  words,  they  for- 
tunately did  not  carry  with  them  artisans  skilled  in  making 
grotesque  assemblages  of  ornament,  but  rather,  through 
their  own  efforts,  they  unconsciously  created  a  style  of 
their  own. 

The  padres,  however,  were  skilled  in  church  design; 
each  of  the  larger  missions  shows  a  singular  unity,  true  to 
some  particular  style.  Many  of  the  smaller  California 
missions,  not  to  be  treated  on  any  elaborate  scale,  were 
simply  modelled  after  the  basilica,  with  a  long  rectangular 
room  and  wooden  ceiling.  So,  with  the  more  important 
missions,  the  Byzantine  motifs  were  very  applicable  espe- 
cially in  monolith  construction  and  interior  decoration,  a 
feature  to  which  the  un-Christian  Moorish  decoration 
would  not  be  suited.  The  large  dome  on  pendentives,  as 
we  have  seen,  is  of  Byzantine  influence,  as  are  also  the 
various  forms  of  vaulting.  Both  the  dome  and  fachada 


18  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

were  painted  in  imitation  of  the  polychrome  title  work 
of  the  Moor.  Much  of  the  interior  was  painted  to  resemble 
marble,  tile,  and  even  mosaics. 

San  Xavier  is  for  the  most  part  of  Byzantine  influence, 
especially  as  to  its  cruciform  plan,  construction,  and  most 
of  its  interior  decoration.  Its  stilted  arches,  domes,  and 
fantastic  windows  are,  however,  Moorish.  In  fact,  the 
lower  half  of  the  interior  with  its  many  statuettes,  fres- 
coes, and  glitter  of  gilt  is  Byzantine,  while  the  upper  part, 
with  its  arches,  windows  and  domes  impresses  one  as  Moor- 
ish. The  distinctive  towers  and  belfries  were  developed 
in  Mexico,  and  most  of  the  accented  yet  restrained  deco- 
ration has  the  touch  of  the  Aztec. 

It  would  be  quite  impossible  to  formulate  a  chrono- 
logical table  of  the  mission  style.  The  missions  were 
built  intermittently  over  a  period  of  two  hundred  years 
and  at  great  distances  from  one  another.  In  some  in- 
stances, a  mission  would  partake  of  a  certain  style  in  vogue 
in  Mexico  and,  perhaps,  its  building  would  be  prolonged 
for  many  years;  while,  in  the  meantime,  another  mission, 
influenced  by  a  later  style,  might  be  completed.  Take 
the  case  of  San  Xavier:  it  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  all 
missions  and  founded  over  sixty  years  before  the  first 
California  mission;  yet,  anomalous  though  it  may  seem, 
its  final  form  shows  a  style  later  than  that  of  any  other 
mission. 

This  may  in  some  way  be  accounted  for  by  its  proximity 
to  Mexico  and  its  being  finished  later  than  many  of  the 
missions.  San  Luis  Rey,  however,  the  last  of  the  great 
missions  of  the  California  chain,  has  much  in  common 
with  San  Xavier,  but,  even  though  built  at  a  later  date, 
is  characterized  by  an  earlier  style.  In  these  two  examples 


20 


MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 


mission  architecture  showed  great  promise;  but  all  was 
suddenly  stopped  by  secularization;  and  mission  architec- 
ture, then  at  its  height,  was  forever  at  an  end. 

In  a  general  way,  the  mission  style  may  be  divided  into 
three  periods.  The  first,  of  course,  comprises  those  small 
adobe  buildings  of  New  Mexico,  Texas  and  Arizona  which 
first  served  the  needs  of  the  padres.  Guevavi,  the  first 
of  the  Arizona  missions,  is  a  good  example;  its  ruins  may 
still  be  seen  near  the  present  town  of  Nogales. 


GUEVAVI  IN  1880.     (Only  photo  in  existence.) 

When  the  missions  became  more  firmly  fixed  and  some 
safety  assured,  the  padres  undertook  more  serious  struc- 
tures. They  turned  to  Mexico  for  guidance,  which  at 
that  time  was  dominated  by  a  theatrical  classic  spirit, 
and  consequently,  the  second  period  is  usually  marked 
by  a  heavy  and  misshapen  classic  fachada.  It  must  be 
noted  that  the  ornamental  gable  about  the  entrance  reveals 


FAQADE  OF  SAN  JOSE  DE  TUMACACORI  MISSION  IN  1880. 


DEVELOPMENT.  23 

either  one  or  the  other  of  the  last  two  periods,  the  general 
form  of  the  Church  not  being  included.  Most  of  the  Cali- 
fornia missions  come  under  the  second  period,  especially 
San  Carlos  (Monterey),  San  Francisco  de  Assisi  (Dolores) 
and,  to  some  extent,  Santa  Barbara. 

The  third  period  is  characterized  by  the  Plateresque  and 
Churrigueresque,  but  of  a  modified  and  more  simple  form. 
The  two  styles  came  under  the  influence  of  the  native 
Aztec  architecture,  and  evidently,  when  applied  to  the 
missions,  produced  a  very  successful  and  interesting  style. 
To  this  period  belongs  San  Xavier,  San  Luis  Rey,  and  San 
Carlos  (Carmel).  San  Jose  de  Aguayo  of  Texas  could  also 
be  placed  in  this  group,  but  its  date  is  much  earlier.  As 
has  been  mentioned  before,  it  really  cannot  be  called  a 
mission;  for,  like  many  cathedrals  of  Mexico,  it  was  in- 
fluenced directly  from  Spain  before  the  classic  wave  was  felt. 

A  few  missions  partake  of  both  the  second  and  third 
periods.  San  Luis  Rey  comes  in  this  class  and  San  Jose 
de  Tumacacori  tends  very  much  towards  pseudo-classi- 
cism. This  Jatter^case  may  be  accounted  for  in  that  it 
was  built  shortly  after  San  Xavier  and,  being  not  many 
miles  distant,  could  hardly  employ  a  similar  style.  The 
padres,  then,  referred  to  the  style  rapidly  passing  out  and 
recreated  one  of  the  best  designed  fachadas  in  all  mission 
architecture.  That  San  Jose  de  Tumacacori  ranked  higher 
than  San  Xavier  as  a  piece  of  architecture  is  a  mistake  made 
by  many  architects.  Today  it  stands  an  impressive  ruin 
and  one  is  apt  to  let  the  imagination  warp  his  better  judg- 
ment. San  Xavier  is  entirely  free  from  classic  .influence, 
borrowing  simply  from  the  late  ornamental  style  of  Mexico. 
It  marks  the  beginning  of  a  well  balanced  and  consistent 
design,  and  stands  the  best  example  of  mission  architecture. 


26  MISSION  ARCHITECTURE. 

Some  of  the  most  thoughtful  buildings  of  the  United 
States  have  been  inspired  by  the  mission  style.  At  the 
present  time  it  may  be  said  to  approach  something  of  a 
craze.  The  "Ponce  de  Leon  Hotel"  and  the  "Alcazar" 
hotel,  both  of  Florida,  are  modern  examples  but  partake 
more  of  the  Spanish-Colonial.  "Mission  Inn,"  Cali- 
fornia, is  distinctly  mission,  as  are  many  other  serious 
structures  throughout  the  West.  School-houses,  espe- 
cially, are  effective  when  designed  along  such  lines — low 
tile  roofs  and  great  blank  walls,  with  some  detailed  orna- 
mental feature  about  the  doors  and  windows — while  the 
patio  and  open  windows  give  an  abundance  of  fresh  air  and 
light.  Besides,  the  construction  is  comparatively  inex- 
pensive. 

The  Panama-Pacific  International  Exposition  at  San 
Francisco  was  of  Moorish  and  Spanish  styles,  notably 
in  the  ornamentation  of  the  outside  walls  of  the  buildings, 
done  by  Messrs.  Bliss  and  Faville  of  San  Francisco.  The 
low  domes  and  the  colored  ensemble  by  Jules  Guerin  gave 
it  a  distinctly  Oriental  appearance  against  the  blue  of  the 
Pacific  and  California's  cloudless  sky.  A  similar  and  not- 
able work  based  wholly  on  mission  and  Spanish-Colonial 
styles  was  the  Panama  California  International  Exposi- 
tion at  San  Diego,  conceived  by  Mr.  Bertram  Goodhue. 
It  marks  an  epoch  in  the  architecture  of  today,  and  no 
greater  modern  work  could  be  cited  in  this  connection. 

The  modest  missions  of  the  padres  have  made  their 
greatness  felt  in  no  small  way  in  this  country;  CTTIXOPLK  of 
the  land  of  sunshine  and  the  painted  desert,  beautiful  and 
true  in  simplicity,  they  represent  the  only  architecture 
indigenous  with  us. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  MISSION 
ARCHITECTURE. 

AT  the  dawn  of  civilization,  man  laboriously  set  up 
huge  columns  to  carry  a  crude  roof  that  meant  his  pro- 
tection from  the  elements;  so  do  we  find  to  a  great  extent 
the  beginnings  of  mission  architecture, — built  primarily 
for  pure  utilitarian  needs  and  developed  along  lines  limited 
by  rigid  conditions.  To  be  sure,  the  style  is  based  upon 
the  styles  of  Spain  and  Mexico;  but  in  the  process  of  adap- 
tation, they  were  so  changed  that  it  may  be  called  some- 
thing of  a  new  style. 

Mission  architecture  was  developed  in  a  new  country 
under  hitherto  unknown  conditions  and  from  materials 
never  before  in  the  hand  of  white  man.  The  clay  beneath 
his  feet  was  a  peculiar  kind;  water  was  scarce,  and  in  many 
cases  wood  of  any  reasonable  dimensions  was  difficult  to 
secure.  Any  other  materials  he  may  have  desired  had  to 
be  brought  laboriously  over  the  sands  from  Mexico.  The 
sun  was  intense  and  little  consideration  need  be  given  to 
cold  and  rain.  The  Indian  was  a  new  factor  to  deal  with. 
His  religion  was  to  be  taken  from  him  and  his  idols  broken. 
If  he  objected  strenuously  enough,  the  mission  would  have 
to  serve  also  as  a  place  of  protection  against  his  hostile 
attacks. 

It  is  evident  that  limitations  were  on  all  sides  and  many 
conditions  had  to  be  met,  no  matter  what  other  ideas  of 
architecture  and  building  the  artistic  padres  may  have 
held. 

Of  the  thirty  or  more  missions  in  the  Southwest,  scarcely 

27 


CHARACTERISTICS.  29 

any  are  differentiated  even  in  the  minds  of  those  who  are 
apparently  interested  in  architecture  or  archaeology.  The 
missions  seem  to  be  considered  as  a  whole  and  are  thought 
to  be  very  much  alike.  To  be  sure  they  were  built  to  a 
great  extent  under  the  same  conditions,  by  the  same  type 
of  builder  and  for  the  same  purpose;  but  what  two  archi- 
tects of  today,  even  though  they  be  of  the  same  school, 
design  with  the  same  feeling?  Why,  therefore,  should 
missions  be  similar  to  any  marked  degree  simply  because 
they  necessarily  have  such  characteristics  in  common  as 
low,  shaded  cloisters  and  massive  walls?  Even  the  mis- 
sions of  the  California  chain,  though  built  for  the  most 
part  by  the  same  order  of  padres,  are  each  and  every  one  a 
separate  jewel,  with  San  Luis  Rey  the  most  perfect. 

Evidently,  then,  the  missions  of  California,  Arizona,  and 
Texas  may  be  expected  to  be  quite  unlike;  and  such  is  the 
case.  Each  chain  was  built  by  independent  groups  of 
padres,  and  hence  each  group  collectively  reveals  different 
treatment  from  its  neighbor. 

In  general,  the  mission  occupies  a  position  elevated  above 
the  surrounding  country.  The  buildings  and  garden  are 
enclosed  by  a  wall.  The  missions  themselves  are  usually 
conventional  in  arrangement.  The  nave  is  practically 
always  rectangular,  San  Xavier  being  a  notable  exception 
in  that  its  plan  is  cruciform.  When  a  tower  is  employed, 
its  first  floor  serves  as  a  baptistry,  otherwise,  the  baptistry 
opens  from  the  nave  at  some  other  point,  as  is  the  case 
with  San  Gabriel  of  California,  where  the  baptistry  is 
entered  about  midway  down  the  nave.  At  one  end,  of 
course,  is  the  main  altar  with  the  sacristry  opening  imme- 
diately behind  or  to  the  side.  The  choir-loft  is  at  the  oppo- 
site end,  often  over  the  main  entrance  and  sometimes 


STAIRCASE,  SAN  GABRIEL  MISSION,  CALIFORNIA. 


32  MISSION  ARCHITECTURE. 

reached  by  a  stairway  on  the  outside  of  the  church.  When 
a  tower  is  a  front  feature,  (the  altar  naturally  being  at  the 
other  end  of  the  building),  the  stairs  wind  about  in  the 
walls  of  the  tower  to  the  choir-loft  over  the  nave. 

The  walls  are  from  three  to  six  feet  in  thickness  and  were 
seldom  carried  more  than  one  story  or  story-and-a-half 
in  height.  When  rock  or  stone  was  to  be  had,  the  wall 
was  carried  up  about  one  third  of  the  way  with  such  material 
and  then  finished  with  either  adobe  or  burned  brick.  The 
more  capacious  missions  had  little  use  for  adobe,  as  it 
never  attained  any  degree  of  hardness.  A  form  of  cement 
stucco  covers  the  outside  of  the  wall  and  the  interior  is 
plastered  with  a  lime  plaster,  both  known  today  for  their 
excellent  quality,  and  said  to  have  been  made  by  a  process 
of  which  the  secret  has  been  lost. 

Low  and  massive  buttresses  are  placed  against  the  walls 
to  insure  their  stability.  Especially  is  this  true  in  the 
case  of  the  California  missions  where  earthquakes  are  so 
prevalent;  in  fact,  it  is  from  this  cause  that  most  of  them 
have  suffered  destruction.  A  great  buttress  is  actually 
used  on  the  fachada  of  San  Buenaventura  to  balance  the 
massive  tower  opposite.  In  San  Xavier,  there  are  flying 
buttresses,  strengthening  the  belfry  and  cupola  of  the  towers, 
which  rise  to  a  considerable  height.  In  most  every  case, 
one  is  aware  of  the  great  skill  employed  in  placing  the 
buttresses;  especially  when  they  are  used  in  some  missions 
to  react  against  the  stresses  caused  by  the  high  brick  arches, 
sprung  over  the  nave  from  pilasters  on  either  side. 

In  the  event  of  arches,  the  roof  is  constructed  wholly  of 
brick,  as  are  oftentimes  the  floors  also.  The  roof  between 
the  arches  is  formed  into  low  elliptical  domes,  with  some 
decorative  design.  Groin  vaulting  is  predominant  over 


34  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

the  smaller  rooms,  while  low  segmental  domes,  when  pos- 
sible, cover  undivided  rooms  of  importance,  such  as  the 
baptistry  and  sacristy. 

In  proportion  to  the  number  of  missions,  domes  are 
comparatively  scarce  in  the  California  chain;  but  the  large 
hemispherical  dome  over  the  intersection  of  the  Cross 
in  the  building,  the  well  proportioned  arches  in  each  wall 
of  the  octagon  tower  and  the  flying  buttresses  put  the 
Arizona  Missions  in  a  class  by  themselves,  as  the  combin- 
ation of  these  most  beautiful  features  are  not  found  in 
the  Missions  of  other  states.  The  domes  were  built  of 
brick,  hence  necessarily  in  connection  with  a  brick  roof, 
which  was  built  more  or  less  level.  The  padres,  in  their 
excellent  judgment,  realized  the  appropriateness  of  such 
a  roof  to  arid  conditions  and  its  unsuitability  to  California 
where  they  experience  a  season  of  rainfall  each  year. 

The  roof  over  the  minor  projecting  wings  or  over  the 
more  modest  missions  often  consists  of  large  red  tiles  laid 
on  rushes,  which,  in  turn,  are  fastened  to  wooden  trusses 
with  thongs  of  hide.  Most  of  the  roofs,  however,  as  in 
San  Gabriel,  have  long  since  fallen  in  and  been  replaced 
by  others.  An  interesting  form  of  ceiling  construction  is 
still  to  be  found  in  San  Fernando  Rey,  Dolores  and  San 
Ynez,  where  horizontal  beams  are  supported  by  flat  cor- 
bels projecting  from  the  wall.  San  Xavier  alone  retains  a 
roof  and  ceiling  wholly  of  brick. 

The  domes  of  any  importance  standing  today  are  placed 
on  a  high  drum,  rising  on  arches  and  pendentives.  The 
drum  is  pierced  with  small  fantastic  Moorish  windows; 
and  in  remembrance  of  the  glazed  tile  of  Spain,  the  padres, 
no  doubt,  painted  the  domes  to  the  best  of  their  ability. 
The  story  is  told  that  the  dome  of  San  Jose  de  Aguayo  in 


CHARACTERISTICS.  35 

Texas  was  so  beautiful  that  the  Indians  called  it  "Day 
Star  of  their  Manitou."  A  small  lantern  often  surmounts 
the  dome,  bearing  a  cross.  In  order  to  reach  the  cross  in 
times  of  danger  or  in  case  of  mishap,  small  projections  of 
brick  are  found  up  the  side  of  the  dome  in  the  fashion  of 
steps. 

The  towers  are  capped  with  small  domes  or  in  some  cases 
by  a  pyramidal  roof  as  with  San  Carlos,  (Monterey); 
again,  San  Carlos,  (Carmel),  has  a  small  dome  resembling 
a  bee  hive.  Both  the  latter  missions,  only  a  few  miles 
apart,  are  rather  diminutive,  but  are  nevertheless  exquisite 
bits  of  mission  architecture. 

The  bells  played  an  inportant  role  in  mission  life.  They 
called  the  Indian  to  prayer  and  called  them  from  the  fields ; 
their  tinkling  regulated  the  day  as  would  a  clock.  Conse- 
quently, they  are  placed  high,  either  in  arched  openings 
cut  in  the  wall  or  in  towers.  In  the  case  of  San  Gabriel, 
the  only  form  of  exterior  decoration  is  the  wall-belfry. 
Pala  chapel  has  an  interesting  belfry  in  the  form  of  a  small 
decorative  wall  built  away  from  the  church.  The  bells 
in  the  towers  were  rung  by  means  of  long  ropes  which  hung 
to  the  ground.  Flights  of  stairs  led  to  the  belfry,  but  the 
padres,  realizing  how  many  times  a  day  the  bells  had  to 
be  rung,  thus  found  means  for  the  saving  of  labor.  In 
Tumacacori  the  bells  are  placed  high  over  one's  head  and 
a  rope  would  necessarily  have  to  be  used.  One  of  the  best 
evidences  that  the  bells  were  rung^  from  below  arises  from 
the  appearance  of  grooves  in  the  side  of  the  piers  and  edge 
of  the  floor  made  by  the  ropes. 

A  few  of  the  missions  possessed  very  fine  bells  sent  from 
Mexico  or  sometimes  from  Spain,  though  for  the  most 
part  they  were  rather  crudely  cast  and  produced  a  high- 


BELL  TOWER  OF  PALA  CHAPEL,  CALIFORNIA. 


CHARACTERISTICS.  37 

pitched  metallic  sound.  The  story  of  the  mission  bells  is 
indeed  fascinating  and  well  worth  studying  by  someone 
overburdened  with  time.  It  is  said  that  all  the  clappers 
of  the  bells  of  Arizona  were  made  from  a  large  meteorite 
which  fell  in  the  Santa  Rita  mountains.  Two  clappers 
unearthed  at  Tumacacori  may  be  seen  in  the  museum  of 
the  University  of  Arizona.  San  Juan  Bautista  is  a  rare 
exception  in  this  connection  and  famous  principally  for 
its  bells.  Tradition  relates  that  they  were  made  by  an 
old  bell-maker  of  Peru  who  never  divulged  the  secret  cf 
their  composition.  They  were  nine  in  number  and  formed 
a  rare  and  beautiful  chime;  but  the  bells  gradually  disap- 
peared and  much  speculation  has  been  given  as  to  their 
whereabouts.  For  that  matter,  nearly  all  of  the  missions 
are  minus  their  bells,  perhaps,  due  to  tourists  musically 
inclined.  One  bell  of  the  lost  chime  was  recently  discov- 
ered by  the  author,  hanging  in  the  belfry  of  San  Xavier  del 
Bac.  For  years  it  had  hung,  unrecognized,  but  noted  for 
its  sweet  tone. 

A  striking  thing  about  the  general  ensemble  of  the  mis- 
sions is  the  large  expanse  of  blank  wall  surface  with  a 
restrained  area  of  decoration  about  the  entrance,  which 
usually  takes  the  form  of  a  fantastic  gable.  No  two  gables 
are  alike,  though  the  severe  classic  elements  predominate 
in  the  California  chain,  due  to  their  being  finished  at  an 
earlier  date  than  those  of  Arizona  and  Texas.  It  seems 
inexcusably  inconsistent  that  the  California  missions  as  a 
whole  must  resort  to  debased  pseudo-classicism  on  the 
fachada,  even  the  great  San  Luis  Rey  not  being  an  excep- 
tion. 

The  missions  of  Arizona  and  Texas,  on  the  other  hand, 
employed  the  very  ornate  style  then  predominant  in  Mexico, 


38  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

but  fortunately,  through  necessity  in  a  more  restrained 
manner.  The  gable  is  overrun  with  arabesques  in  low 
relief,  and  highly  decorative  columns  support  broken 
arches,  while  curves  of  various  radii  give  it  a  peculiar  sky- 
line. Tumacacori  being  finished  at  a  later  date,  partook  of 
the  classic  spirit,  much  to  its  detriment.  Filials,  consoles, 
and  other  decorative  features  finish  off  the  walls  and  add 
ornament  here  and  there;  for  instance,  the  lion's  head  and 
filial  are  worked  in  the  parapet  wall  about  the  roof  of  San 
Xavier. 

Interior  decoration  varies  with  the  missions;  some  are 
highly  ornate  while  others  can  scarcely  boast  a  spot  of 
color.  Few  of  the  California  missions  are  decorated  in  a 
way  to  compare  favorably  with  San  Xavier,  Tumacacori, 
or  even  San  Jose  de  Aguayo  of  the  past.  San  Xavier  stands 
unequalled  and  will  be  treated  elsewhere.  San  Jose  de 
Aguayo  is,  for  the  most  part,  a  thing  of  tradition;  and  only 
a  few  remains  of  a  decoration  of  great  delicacy  may  be 
seen  in  Tumacacori.  The  colors  employed  are  pale  blues, 
oranges,  pinks  and  magentas,  while  orange  and  black  are 
often  used  together  in  a  sort  of  Greek  border.  Dainty 
flowers  of  a  conventional  pattern  form  decorative  bands, 
appearing  very  much  like  stencil-work.  Such,  however, 
is  not  the  case,  for  each  is  painted  with  infinite  care. 

The  altars  are  large,  intricately  decorated,  and  covered 
for  the  most  part  with  gold  leaf.  Before  the  altar,  a  low 
wooden  fence  takes  the  place  of  the  handsome  metal  screens 
of  Spain  and  Mexico.  The  pulpit  is  usually  a  thing  of 
great  interest  and  is  found  in  its  place  to  the  left  of  the 
altar  and  down  the  nave  a  short  distance.  It  is  usually 
very  cleverly  hand-carved,  and  fitted  together  without 
nails.  San  Luis  Rey  prides  itself  on  having  a  pulpit  from 
Constantinople,  dating  back  to  the  Middle  Ages. 


CHAPEL  DOOR,  SANTA  BARBARA  MISSION,  CALIFORNIA. 


CHARACTERISTICS.  41 

The  domed  ceilings  are  beautifully  painted,  or  covered 
with  gold  leaf,  the  latter,  for  the  most  part,  having  long 
ago  been  picked  off. 

The  entrances  and  windows  are  few  in  number  and 
small  in  dimension.  The  doors  are  low  and  heavy,  and 
divided  into  many  small  panels,  due  to  the  lack  of  facilities 
for  handling  large  trees.  The  windows  are  usually  rec- 
tangular and  in  some  special  cases  of  fanciful  form.  Wooden 
grills  are  placed  before  the  lower  ones,  and  wooden  bal- 
conies are  usually  found  in  connection  with  casement  doors, 
if  there  be  a  second  floor  or  choir-loft  above.  These  in- 
fluences, too,  are  traced  directly  from  Mexico  and  Spain. 
The  doors  and  windows  have  iron  bolts  and  hinges,  of  fair 
workmanship.  Sometimes  iron  pivots  are  used  in  place  of 
hinges,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  old  door  at  San  Gabriel. 

One  of  the  most  attractive  and  dominant  notes  of  mis- 
sion architecture  is  in  the  long,  low  cloisters,  usually  in 
the  rear  and  enclosing  a  garden  or  patio.  Sometimes  the 
roof  rafters  are  supported  by  a  simple  architrave  and  heavy 
columns,  but  more  often  by  arches  sprung  from  low  square 
piers.  No  two  arches  are  of  the  same  dimension;  in  fact, 
everything  about  the  garden  breathes  a  charming  incon- 
sistency. The  floor  is  laid  with  large,  irregular,  dull  red 
bricks,  and  heavy  Spanish  lanterns  hang  from  the  rafters. 
Low  seats  are  built  against  the  walls,  the  arms  of  which 
often  project  from  the  walls  themselves.  Heavy  chairs 
and  tables  are  placed  about,  simple  in  line  and  crudely 
made.  Often  laterally  sawed  tree  trunks  serve  as  low  stools. 
The  soft  beauty  of  the  garden  cloisters  is  the  supreme 
delight  of  every  water-colorist. 

A  huge  stone  fountain  occupies  the  center  of  the  garden, 
and  small  pools  are  placed  about.  Narrow  walks  lead 


42 


MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 


among  the  flowers,  and  overhead  are  fruit-laden  trees. 
Santa  Barbara  has  a  sacred  garden  rarely  seen  by  visitors 
and  to  which  no  women  are  admitted.  Mrs.  McKinley, 
the  wife  of  the  President,  was  given  the  great  privilege  of 
entering  the  garden,  as  Santa  Barbara  had  always  been 


CORRIDOR  OF  SANTA  BARBARA  MISSION,  CALIFORNIA. 

kindly  remembered  and  assisted  by  her.  At  one  time  a 
second  woman  entered,  but  by  mistake,  so  her  exit  was 
speedily  effected. 

San  Xavier  has  no  such  garden,  for,  in  its  case,  the  water 
would  have  been  difficult  to  manage  for  such  a  purpose 
and,  again,  the  space  was  enclosed  by  a  massive  wall  for 
defense.  Tumacacori,  however,  was  more  fortunate  and 
must  have  possessed  a  very  beautiful  garden.  Evidences 
of  an  irrigation  system  are  visible  and  parts  of  the  garden 
wall  are  still  standing.  The  padres  were  also  very  for- 


DOORWAY    WITH   THREE    SKULLS,    SANTA    BARBARA    MISSION,    CALIFORNIA. 


44  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

tunate  in  having  a  well  in  the  garden.  No  vegetation  of 
any  kind  now  remains  and  the  ground  about  the  ruined 
church  has  been  torn  up  by  treasure  seekers.  The  walls 
of  the  church  adjoining  the  garden  are  inlaid  with  small 
bits  of  red  and  black  rock,  forming  a  rich  conventional 
design. 

Each  mission  has  its  tiny  grave  yard,  either  near  or  ad- 
joining the  mission  itself.  At  Santa  Barbara  the  doorway 
which  leads  to  the  graveyard  from  the  mission  is  well 
known.  Three  human  skulls  are  embedded  in  the  wall 
over  the  door,  signifying  death  or  the  brevity  of  life.  Ad- 


MORTUARY  CHAPEL,  SAN  JOSE  DE  TUMACACORI,  ARIZ. 

joining  the  cemeteries  there  is  often  a  small  chapel  in  which 
the  dead  were  placed,  awaiting  burial.  San  Xavier  has  a 
small  rectangular  chapel,  while  Tumacacori  possesses  a 
rotunda,  of  Byzantine  influence,  with  its  outside  surface 
inlaid  with  small  pieces  of  red  stone,  in  keeping  with  the 
garden  wall. 


CHARACTERISTICS.  45 

As  a  closing  word  it  may  be  well  to  mention  the  under- 
ground passages.  Most  missions  of  early  date  possessed 
secret  passages  as  a  means  of  escape  in  case  they  were  be- 
sieged. It  is  difficult  to  locate  any  of  them  now,  as  they 
are  well  concealed  or  fallen  in.  San  Diego  mission  has  an 
underground  passage  of  very  ingenious  arrangement,  lead- 
ing, perhaps,  from  some  room  in  the  mission  to  the  well 
at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  Its  entrance  has  never  been  sought 
for  and  it  has  for  the  most  part  fallen  in,  as  can  be  found 
by  exploring  from  the  well.  The  passage  led  underground 
to  the  well,  opening  into  the  side  several  yards  below  the 
level  of  the  grade.  The  padres  could  then  go  and  fetch 
water  without  being  seen  by  a  hostile  band  of  Indians. 
Across  the  well,  the  passage  continued  some  distance 
further  and  made  an  exit  in  a  group  of  palm  trees,  planted 
by  the  fathers.  Hence,  in  the  time  of  great  danger,  the 
padres  would  enter  the  passage,  leap  across  the  well  and 
escape  by  the  exit  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  mis- 
sion. The  mission  at  an  early  date  was  destroyed  and 
several  of  the  fathers  escaped  by  this  means.  Tumaca- 
cori  is  said  to  have  had  a  passage  and  the  story  goes  that 
there  was  an  iron  door  leading  to  it  in  the  garden. 


STAIRCASE  OF  SAN  Luis  REY  MISSION,  CALIFORNIA. 


SAN  XAVIER  DEL  BAG: 
THE  GREATEST  OF  ALL  MISSIONS. 

1.  HISTORY. 

2.  DESCRIPTION. 

3.  ARCHITECTURE. 

4.  CONSTRUCTION. 


SAN   XAYIER   DEL  BAG. 

The  old  Mission  Church  among  the  Papago  Indians  in  Santa  Cruz 

Valley,  Arizona. 

BY  ILDEFONSUS 

Away  towards  the  glowing  South  land, 
'Neath  a  dome  of  azure  hue, 
Near  where  Santa  Cruz  rambles 
Through  the  plains  'mid  the  mountains  blue, 
Majestic  amid  the  hillocks 
Where  the  cactus  luxuriant  grows, 
Looming  up  'gainst  the  distant  mountain 
Crowned  with  mid-summer  snows! 
Stands  the  old  church  of  San  Xavier, 
Lifting  its  towers  high, 
And  its  cross  gleams  out  to  the  distance 
Where  the  Rockies  touch  the  sky! 
Gaze  at  its  massive  portal, 
Bearing  upon  its  arch 
The  date  of  a  century  vanished 
In  the  ages'  onward  march! 
And  mark  above  the  entrance 
To  this  ancient  temple  bless'd, 
Preaching  love  and  penance, 
The  old  Franciscan  Crest, 
Like  a  crown  bereft  of  its  brightness, 
Above  this  crest  so  good, 
Remains  but  the  lone  pedestal 
Where  once  a  statue  stood. 
Glance  at  the  shatter' d  casements, 
Looking  so  grand  and  grim, 
That  the  sunlight  almost  shudders 

49 


50  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

Ere  it  ventures  to  enter  in ! 

Pause  at  the  noble  gateway, 

Study  the  stately  towers, 

That,  looking  down  on  the  valley, 

Have  seen  a  century's  flowers! 

List  to  the  old  bells  chiming 

From  their  windy  room  above, 

While  back  from  the  mountains  is  echoed 

The  music  of  faith  and  love. 

Step  within  the  gateway — 

Pause  in  the  atrium  dim, 

See  in  the  shade  of  the  tower 

The  mortuary  chapel  grim, 

Chapel'd  beneath  this  tower 

Is  the  tarnished  font — once  bright — 

Whence  flowed  the  saving  waters 

On  many  a  neophite. 

And  on  the  wall,  beside  it, 

Is  pictured  the  Baptist  grave, 

Pouring  on  Christ  the  water 

Caught  from  Jordan's  wave! 

Enter  the  ancient  temple, 

Stand  in  the  sacred  pile, 

Trace  in  its  every  outline 

The  well-marked  Moorish  style. 

A  sigh  will  come  unbidd'n, 

Like  a  troubl'd  ocean  wave, 

And  you'll  drop  a  tear  of  sadness 

As  you  pass  through  its  only  nave. 

Measure  the  lofty  arches — 

Each  a  vision  of  old  recalls — 

Resting,  as  if  by  magic, 

On  the  pillars  in  the  walls ! 

Turn  to  the  right  and  ponder, 

Pictured  upon  the  wall 


SAN   XAVIER    DEL   BAG.  51 

The  chosen  ones,  all  kneeling, 

Where  tongues  of  fire  fall ! 

Then  turn  away  from  the  vision 

Of  the  bright  descending  Dove, 

To  read  the  frescoed  story, 

Of  the  ancient  Supper  of  Love ! 

In  the  epistle  chapel 

With  gentle  folded  hands 

Beneath  the  cross,  all  tearful 

The  Mother  of  Sorrow  stands. 

And  on  another  altar, 

Where  sculptured  angels  wait, 

Shrined  in  a  golden  nimbus 

Stands  the  Immaculate. 

Look  at  the  walls  around  you, 

Whence  our  Queen  of  the  Rosary  stoops 

To  give  the  mystic  chaplet 

To  the  kneeling  angel  groups. 

There  too,  the  work  of  the  artist — 

Dimmed  by  the  breath  of  time — 

Shows  the  scene  of  Nazareth 

In  the  life  of  him  Divine! 

Come  to  the  gospel  chapel 

And  look  at  the  face  so  mild, 

Of  the  gentle  Foster  Father 

Guarding  the  Savior  Child, 

Kneel  at  its  shrine  of  sorrow, 

Where  the  story  of  love  is  told 

By  the  cross,  the  nails,  and  the  scourges, 

And  the  dead  Christ,  pale  and  cold! 

Here  too,  the  well-traced  picture, 

Which  time  has  not  effaced, 

Shows  our  Infant  Lord  in  the  temple, 

In  Simeon's  fond  embrace. 

And  again,  the  brush  of  the  artist, 


52  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

Moved  by  some  trained  hand, 
Tells  the  story  of  Saragossa 
In  the  trans-atlantic  land ! 
And  pictured  upon  a  banner 
Is  our  lady  of  Guadalupe — 
Flowers  are  clustering  'round  her, 
And  wond'ring  angels  group! 
And  still  in  its  dim  old  corner, 
Seeming  to  smile  at  time, 
Stand  the  tribunal  of  penance- 
That  mercy  seat  sublime! 
Turn  we  to  the  altar- 
Like  warriors  clad  in  steel — 
Guarding  the  chancel  gateway 
Crouch  the  Lions  of  Old  Castile ! 
Above  the  sacred  table, 
Clasping  the  cross  in  his  hands, 
Clad  in  his  sable  habit, 
The  Sainted  Xavier  stands! 
And  yet  above  the  Patron, 
As  watching  over  all, 
Appears  the  Virgin  Mother, 
Guarded  by  Peter  and  Paul. 
And  'mid  the  half-burned  tapers, 
And  vases  old  and  odd, 
With  the  crucifix  above  it, 
Is  the  home  of  the  captive  God ! 
And  in  the  fading  pictures 
On  the  chancel-walls,  to  the  right, 
Behold  the  adoring  Magi, 
And  the  Holy  Family's  flight. 
While  near  the  gospel  corner 
With  Mary,  face  to  face, 
Appears  the  great  Archangel 
Hailing  her  "Full  of  grace!" 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAC.  53 

And  the  cold  wall  tells  the  story 

Of  the  morning  scene  of  yore, 

When  shepherds  came  from  the  hillside, 

The  new  born  God  t'adore. 

Like  sentinels  ever  watchful 

On  Zion's  ancient  towers 

Stand  on  either  side  th'  apostles 

'Twixt  vases  of  mouldering  flow'rs 

While  out  from  their  antique  niches, 

Look  Franciscan  Saints  of  old ; 

And  bright-winged  cherubs  cluster 

On  the  ceiling  high  and  cold ! 

Climb  we  the  stairs  to  the  choir 

And  study  the  pictured  walls, 

Where  chanted  the  tonsured  Friars 

In  their  dark  and  oaken  stalls. 

Dim'd  by  the  veil  that  a  century's 

Dust  has  over  them  spread 

Look  out  the  four  great  authors 

From  the  frescoes  over  head, 

And  Blessed  Francis  carried 

In  a  fiery  chariot  of  love 

Seems  to  take  flight  from  this  drear  land 

To  realms  of  joy  above! 

And  Dominick,  all  enraptured, 

With  fixed  and  upturned  face, 

Receives  the  Blessed  chaplet 

From  the  beautiful  Mother  of  Grace. 

One  more  picture  we  notice, 

Ere  our  task  is  done: 

The  quiet  home  at  Nazareth, 

Where  dwelt  the  Holy  One. 

It  looks  but  the  carpenter's  dwelling, 

With  the  walls  unadorned  and  bare, 

But,  Oh!  'tis  effulgent  with  glory; 

For  Jesus  and  Mary  are  there! 


54  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

And  Joseph,  the  Foster  Father, 

As  lily  undefiled, 

Sits  near  the  Virgin  Mother, 

Caressed  by  the  Holy  Child! 

Carefully  down  the  stairway 

We  slowly  wend  our  way, 

Filled  with  an  awe  and  a  sadness, 

That  moves  the  heart  to  pray. 

Pray  we  that  old  San  Xavier 

May  not  for  age  be  forgot; 

And  again  the  lamp  of  religion 

May  burn  on  the  holy  spot. 

Soon  may  the  Papagos  gather 

Beneath  the  sacred  shade, 

Where  their  fathers  knelt  'round  the  Black-Robe 

Listened,  believed  and  prayed. 

Soon  may  the  Black-Robe's  labor 

The  treasures  of  faith  unfold, 

And  this  mission  bloom  in  the  valley, 

As  once  it  bloomed  of  old. 

May  its  fading  pictures  be  bright'ned, 

Its  statues  newly  dressed 

And  the  touch  of  the  artist  emblazoned 

Its  old  Franciscan  Crest. 

May  its  arches  again  re-echo 

The  sound  of  the  Vesper  hymn, 

And  fervent  souls  to  worship 

Kneel  in  the  shadow  dim. 

Brushed  from  each  shrine  and  altar 

The  gathering  dust  and  mold, 

May  the  daily  oblation  be  offered 

Which  the  Prophet  hath  foretold, 

May  its  broken  cross  be  uplifted, 

And  its  bells  more  sweetly  chime, 

And  its  glory  remain  untarnished 

Until  the  eve  of  time. 


56  MISSION  ARCHITECTURE. 

HISTORY. 

SINCE  the  discovery,  or  rather  re-discovery,  of  Father 
Kino's  lost  journal  by  Dr.  Herbert  E.  Bolton  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  California,  one  of  the  great  epochs  in  Americana, 
we  can  place  quite  accurately  the  trips  of  Father  Kino 
and  the  beginnings  of  the  missions,  hitherto  a  matter  solely 
of  conjecture.  Kino  (Kiihne)  himself  tells  that  he  visited 
Bac  for  the  first  time  in  1692.  Bac  is  about  nine  miles 
south  of  Tucson,  and  is  the  name  of  the  Indian  settlement 
at  which  the  mission  is  located — hence,  San  Xavier  del  Bac. 

The  word  itself  is  Papago  and  there  has  been  much 
discussion  as  to  its  meaning.  Some  hold  it  signifies  "ruins " 
or  "ruined  adobe  house,"  inspired,  no  doubt,  by  the  note 
made  by  Father  Segesser,  an  early  priest  at  the  mission 
of  San  Xavier  del  Bac,  that  Father  Kino  utilized  an  an- 
cient ruin  on  the  spot,  as  the  first  mission  of  San  Xavier. 
It  must  be  admitted  that  it  is  indeed  poetic  and  beautiful 
to  think  of  the  ruins  of  an  unknown  people,  blossoming 
forth  under  the  Holy  Cross  as  the  Mission  of  San  Xavier 
del  Bac.  However  that  may  be,  exhaustive  research  has 
proved  the  word  Bac  to  mean  "place  where  there  is  water" 
or  "marshy  ground."  This  is  now  the  accepted  meaning 
of  the  word  and  it  is  just  as  feasible  as  the  former  meaning, 
if  not  more  so,  since  Bac  is  one  of  the  two  places  in  the 
radius  of  several  hundreds  of  miles  where  there  is  a  spring 
of  good  water. 

Like  Casa  Grande,  it  was  the  scene  of  several  civiliza- 
tions and  flourished,  perhaps,  about  the  same  time,  1000 
A.D.  Just  who  these  ancient  peoples  were  is  not  known, 
but  they  are  now  thought  to  be  contemporary  with  the 
cliff-dwellers,  and  in  turn  the  parents  of  the  present  Pimas. 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAG.  57 

Humboldt  ventures  that  they  were  the  Aztecs  passing  on 
their  way  to  Mexico,  and  a  legend  goes  that  they  came  from 
the  North. 

At  any  rate,  Bac  is  a  place  of  some  historical  and  archae- 
ological importance,  and  at  the  time  of  Father  Kino,  was 
the  largest  settlement  in  Pimeria  Alta.  It  is  likely  that 
he  would  have  made  a  trip  as  soon  as  the  opportunity 
afforded  of  visiting  this  flourishing  place  and  making  prep- 
aration for  the  establishment  of  a  mission.  It  is  said  that 
the  Indians,  hearing  of  Father  Kino's  work  in  Pimeria 
Baja,  sent  a  delegation  to  visit  him  in  1687  at  his  first  mis- 
sion and  headquarters,  Nuestra  Senorade  los  Dolores. 
They  besought  him  to  visit  the  Santa  Cruz  Valley  and 
build  a  mission  for  them.  Guevavi  had  been  built  a  few 
years  before,  so  he  and  Salvatierra  travelled  as  far  north 
as  Tumacacori  and  established  the  mission  of  San  Jose. 
They  were  the  first  white  men  to  enter  the  country  since 
Coronado. 

In  the  year  1692,  as  has  been  said,  Kino  made  the  first 
of  many  visits  to  Bac.  He  often  dwells  upon  the  excel- 
lence of  its  location  for  a  mission.  In  a  letter  to  King 
Philip  V.  of  Spain,  he  describes  Bac  in  the  following 
words:  "There  are  already  very  rich  and  abundant  fields, 
plantings  and  crops  of  wheat,  maize,  frijoles,  chick-peas, 
beans,  lentils,  bastard  chick-peas,  etc.  There  are  good 
gardens,  and  in  them  vineyards  for  wine  for  masses,  with 
reed-brakes  of  sweet  cane  for  syrup  and  panocha,  and, 
with  the  favor  of  Heaven,  before  long  for  sugar.  There 
are  many  Castilian  fruit  trees,  as  fig-trees,  quinces,  oranges, 
pomegranates,  peaches,  apricots,  pear-trees,  apples,  mul- 
berries, pecans,  prickly  pears,  etc.,  with  all  sorts  of  garden 
stuff,  such  as  cabbages,  melons,  watermelons,  white  cabbage, 


58  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

lettuce,  onions,  leeks,  garlic,  anise,  pepper,  mustard,  mint, 
Castib'an  roses,  white  lilies,  etc.,  with  very  good  timber 
for  all  kinds  of  building,  such  as  pine,  ash,  cypress,  walnut, 
china-trees,  mesquite,  alders,  poplar,  willow,  tamarind, 
etc." 

The  condition  today  is  entirely  different  and  small  sage- 
brush and  dwarfed  mesquite-trees  mark  the  spot  of  this 
former  paradise.  That  his  letter  is  probably  true  is  borne 
out  in  part  by  the  great  dimension  of  the  mesquite  ceiling 
beams  and  fine  mesquite  and  pine  doors,  to  be  seen  in  the 
mission.  Mesquite  trees  of  such  size  are  seldom  found 
today  in  the  valley,  and  the  pine  trees  exist  only  in  the 
mountains. 

He  makes  note  in  another  place  of  his  going  down  the 
San  Pedro  River  to  the  Gila  with  Capt.  Bernal  and  a  guard 
of  soldiers,  returning  by  way  of  Bac  in  the  fall  of  1697. 
He  also  speaks  of  founding  ranches  in  the  Santa  Cruz  and 
San  Pedro  valleys,  preparatory  to  founding  missions,  few 
of  which  materialized. 

In  1699  he  visited  Bac  and  Sonoita  with  the  Visitor- 
General  Antono  Leal  and  another  Jesuit.  It  was,  no  doubt, 
at  this  time  that  they  decided  to  found  a  mission.  For 
seven  years,  seemingly,  the  project  had  been  seriously 
considered,  perhaps  because  of  its  being  such  a  great  dis- 
tance from  the  base  of  supplies  and  because  of  the  great 
length  of  time  required  to  reach  it.  However,  he  states 
definitely  in  his  journal  that  in  either  the  latter  part  of 
April  or  early  May,  1700,  he  went  to  Bac  and  founded  the 
mission  of  San  Xavier,  in  honor  of  the  great  Jesuit  "Apostle 
to  the  Indies,"  ever  his  inspiration  and  guide.  One  has 
been  tempted  to  push  the  date  slightly  forward,  as  there 
were  no  tangible  facts  on  record;  now,  once  and  for  all 
time,  the  date  is  settled  by  Father  Kino's  own  manuscript. 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAG.  59 

Just  what  sort  of  a  church  he  built  is  impossible  to  say, 
but  we  may  well  presume  it  was  very  similar  to  the  one 
he  built  about  fifteen  years  before  at  Guevavi,  of  which 
the  ruins  still  remain.  In  Father  Segesser's  words:  "God 
had  placed  such  building  material  near  at  hand  in  the  shape 
of  ancient  estufa,  or  kiva,  still  standing  a  short  distance 
off."  This  ruin  evidently  was  incorporated  in  the  original 
building;  but  the  belief  often  held  that  the  present  beautiful 
structure  was  built  at  that  time  is,  of  course,  quite  absurd. 

Father  Francisco  Gonzales  was  put  in  charge  of  the  mis- 
sion in  1701  and  it  was  administered,  like  Guevevi,  from 
Dolores  in  the  diocese  of  Durango.  In  this  respect,  the 
manuscript  shows  Bancroft  to  be  wrong  in  his  statement 
that  San  Xavier  had  no  resident  priests  but  was  adminis- 
tered from  Guevavi  as  a  visita.  In  the  same  year,  the 
untiring  Kino  and  Salviaterra  were  at  Bac  and  Tumaca- 
cori. 

At  this  time  the  missions  were  flourishing  and  in  Sonora 
alone  (including  what  is  now  Arizona)  there  were  twenty- 
nine  missions  with  seventy-three  visitas  and  rancherias. 
Father  Kino  visited  San  Xavier  the  last  time  in  1702, 
although  he  did  not  die  until  1711,  nine  years  later,  at  the 
mission  of  Magdalena.  He  made  over  forty  trips  and 
baptized  alone  over  four  thousand  Indians.  This  stren- 
uous life  told  on  his  advancing  years  and  prevented  the 
long  trips  into  Arizona  toward  the  end  of  his  wonderful 
career. 

Several  priests  followed  Gonzales  until  1750,  when  the 
Pimas  revolted  again,  and  the  mission  was  plundered. 
The  priest  in  charge  was  Father  Paner,  who  escaped  to 
Suamca.  He  leaves  a  very  interesting  note  in  the  Tubac 
register  as  follows:  "On  the  21st  of  Nov.  1751,  all  this 


CO  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

Pima  nation  rebelled  and  deprived  this  mission  of  its  spir- 
itual minister,  until  now,  1754,  in  which  year  the  Indians 
have  returned  to  their  pueblo,  meaning  as  they  say,  to 
live  peaceably.  And  for  the  authenticity  of  this  writing,  I 
sign  it.  Francisco  Paner."  He  was  entirely  alone  at 
San  Xavier,  60  miles  from  the  nearest  mission,  and  though 
he  undoubtedly  knew  trouble  was  brewing,  he  held  his 
post.  The  Pimas  had  revolted  before,  but  as  there  were 
no  missions  in  northern  Pimeria  Alta  (Arizona)  at  that 
time,  most  of  the  danger  was  felt  about  the  Altar  River. 
Father  Paner  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  quieting  the 
natives.  A  presidio  was  established  at  the  visita  Tubac 
in  1752  for  the  protection  of  San  Xavier  and  its  visitas 
and  rancherias  of  Christian  Indians. 

Peace  was  restored  and  the  intrepid  Jesuits  again  started 
out  for  the  mission  field.  Paner  resumed  his  charge  at 
San  Xavier.  It  is  very  probable  that  the  mission  was 
administered  from  Tubac,  as  the  latter  place  was  well 
garrisoned.  About  1776,  the  Presidio  was  moved  from 
Tubac  to  Tucson,  as  the  latter  visita  was  much  closer  to 
Bac  and  the  danger  from  the  Apaches  was  becoming  serious. 
The  amount  of  territory  covered  by  one  priest  seems  enor- 
mous. Tubac  is  approximately  twenty  miles  from  Bac, 
Tucson  nine  miles,  and  Tumacacori  thirty  miles,  compris- 
ing an  area  of  five  hundred  square  miles;  yet  the  baptismal 
and  marriage  registers  show  all  these  places  administered 
by  the  lone  priest  in  charge  at  San  Xavier  del  Bac. 

We  have  hurried  over  the  years  of  patient  endurance 
of  the  padres  in  the  strange  land  beset  with  savages.  It 
would  be  tedious  to  recount  the  times  of  privation  and 
suffering  amid  the  few  bright  years  of  prosperity.  The 
bare  floor  was  the  padre's  bed,  and  the  habit  his  only  cover- 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAC.  61 

ing;  parched  corn  was  his  food,  which  he  often  shared  with 
the  Indians.  He  had  pledged  his  life  to  Christ;  suffering 
to  him  was  sweet,  and  martyrdom  a  privilege. 

In  1764  there  were  about  1,250  good  Indians,  the  others 
doing  much  as  they  pleased.  The  fathers  could  hardly 
be  expected  to  hold  thousands  of  Indians  without  some 
help  in  the  way  of  soldiers  or  necessities,  and  the  Govern- 
ment was  sadly  negligent,  as  well  as  the  Church,  at  times. 
The  affairs  of  State  were  undergoing  a  radical  change, 
and  that  its  colonies  were  forgotten  is  very  plausible. 
Culminating  all,  in  1767,  like  a  thunderbolt  from  a  clear 
sky,  the  Jesuits  were  expelled  from  Spain  and  its  posses- 
sions. 

Concerning  this  great  blow  to  the  order  of  Jesuits,  let  us 
look  at  the  bare  historical  facts  from  a  non-sectarian  point 
of  view.  Think  of  the  broader  meaning — the  welfare  of 
Spain,  the  Mother  country,  rather  than  the  small  mission- 
field  of  the  Southwest.  In  Spain,  for  the  year  1749,  sta- 
tistics show  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  persons 
belonging  to  the  clerical  class,  among  whom  one  hundred 
and  twelve  thousand  belonged  to  Orders.  Furthermore, 
they  enjoyed  a  revenue  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  millions 
of  dollars,  a  sum  equal  to  the  entire  revenue  of  the  State. 
Charles  III.  came  to  the  throne,  perfectly  orthodox  in  his 
religious  beliefs.  He  soon  realized  that  the  Church  and 
State  must  be  divorced,  a  thing  his  predecessors  felt  but 
lacked  the  courage  to  bring  about.  The  Jesuits  were  rapidly 
becoming  the  power  behind  the  throne,  possessing  bound- 
less wealth  and  meddling  with  the  Universities  and  schools. 
Feeling  was  growing  against  them  in  other  countries; 
Pombal  was  working  for  their  destruction  in  Portugal  and 
Frederick  the  Great  was  working  for  the  enlightenment  of 


62  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

Germany.  Largely  because  of  shrewd  energy  of  the  Spanish 
ambassador  Moiiino,  afterwards  Count  Floridallanca,  the 
Jesuits  were  expelled  from  all  Spanish  lands,  at  midnight 
in  March,  1767,  by  the  order  of  the  King.  They  departed 
in  thousands  into  Italy  and  Corsica,  and  later  in  1773 
their  Order  was  formally  abolished  by  Pope  Clemont  XIV. 

The  missions  were  immediately  abandoned  by  the  Jesuits, 
who  started  for  Mexico  on  their  way  to  banishment,  them- 
selves in  no  way  to  blame.  There  is  a  popular  opinion 
that  the  Jesuits  had  accumulated  great  riches  from  the 
mines  about  and,  unable  to  take  it  with  them,  buried  the 
treasure  in  the  missions.  It  is  a  fortunate  thing  San  Xavier 
has  been  more  or  less  protected,  for  treasure-seekers  have 
practically  dug  up  the  whole  of  the  ground  about  Tumaca- 
cori.  Several  small  ornaments  at  various  times  have  been 
uncovered  in  the  missions,  but  they  are  of  no  great  signi- 
ficance. The  missions  at  that  time  were  so  poor  that  the 
Jesuits  had  really  very  little  to  bury  and  the  story  of  the 
mines  is  much  overdrawn. 

In  1768  the  Order  of  St.  Francis  was  requested  by  the 
Government  to  take  over  the  abandoned  missions,  which 
they  did  in  a  most  noble  way;  and  the  men  they  sent  forth 
were  as  sincere  and  daring  as  those  unfortunate  padres 
who  were  retracing  their  steps.  To  San  Xavier  was  sent 
Fr.  Francisco  Garces,  O.F.M.,  destined  to  become  a  great 
figure  in  the  history  of  that  mission.  His  was  the  most 
distant  and  precarious  of  the  missions  in  the  Pimeria  Alta, 
but  he  was  equal  to  the  task  assigned.  With  him  went 
Fr.  Jose  del  Rio  as  companero. 

Before  the  year  was  over  the  mission  was  destroyed  by 
the  Apaches,  while  Garces  lay  sick  at  Guevavi.  The 
official  report  for  that  year  shows  a  population  of  two  hun- 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAC.  63 

dred  and  seventy,  and  the  mission  prospering — quite  a 
drop  from  a  population  of  one  thousand  two  hundred  and 
fifty  of  a  few  years  before;  but  all  the  work  had  to  be  done 
over  again;  and  the  expulsion  and  second  destruction  had 
been  keenly  felt.  The  report  also  states  the  "adobe  church " 
was  sufficiently  capacious  but  poorly  equipped  as  to  vest- 
ments and  furniture.  Fr.  Garces,  "armed  with  only  charity 
and  apostolic  zeal,"  gradually  won  the  love  of  the  Indians 
for  miles  around;  they  called  him  their  "old  man,"  although 
he  was  in  fact  a  very  young  man.  Arricivita  speaks  of 
him  in  the  following  glowing  terms:  "Fr.  Francisco  Garces 
was  never  more  happy  than  when  he  was  engaged  in  con- 
verting souls  from  paganism,  and  it  seemed  as  though  he 
lived  on  the  bread  of  Divine  Providence  alone.  He  carried 
no  provisions,  but  subsisted  upon  what  the  Indians  would 
offer  him.  No  road,  be  it  ever  so  rough  and  dangerous, 
could  deter  him;  the  most  perilous  situations  were  sweet 
to  him,  if  only  he  could  give  the  natives  an  idea  of  Al- 
mighty God,  who  created  them,  and  of  the  Living  Savior, 
who  redeemed  them." 

Because  of  the  fervent  zeal  and  intrepidity  of  the  Fran- 
ciscans, we  find  in  1776  forty  flourishing  missions  in  their 
care,  eight  of  which  number,  including  visitas  and  rancherias, 
were  in  what  is  now  Arizona.  It  is  difficult  to  discover 
just  what  constituted  a  visita  and  rancheria,  or  even,  at 
times,  a  mission.  The  word  pueblo  is  used  often  to  define 
the  first  two  terms.  A  visita,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 
word,  was  a  mission  station,  a  settlement  under  a  well 
established  mission  and  attended  by  the  mission  priest. 
The  mission  was  built  as  headquarters,  while  the  visita 
often  had  no  church  of  its  own,  but  simply  a  house  for  the 
priest  during  his  visit.  A  rancheria  was  nothing  more 


64  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

than  an  Indian  village,  cared  for,  if  possible,  by  the  nearest 
priest.  The  whole  of  Pimeria  Alta  was  included  in  the 
diocese  of  Durango. 

Guevavi  and  San  Xavier  were  the  only  real  missions  at 
that  time.  Each  had  several  visitas,  some  of  which  later 
became  missions.  For  instance,  Tumacacori  was  at  first 
a  visita  of  Guevavi  and  later  in  the  Franciscan  period  be- 
came a  mission  rivaling  even  San  Xavier,  though  often 
attended  by  the  latter.  Besides,  San  Xavier  always  re- 
tained Tubac  and  Tucson  as  visitas,  from  the  earliest  times. 
In  1752  a  presidio  under  Don  Juan  Bautista  de  Anza  had 
been  placed  at  Tubac  and  in  1776  moved  to  Tucson;  so 
it  is  very  likely  that  during  the  times  of  disorder,  either  of 
these  two  latter  places  might  have  been  the  headquarters 
and  San  Xavier  along  with  Tumacacori  the  visita.  In 
fact,  old  registers  indicate  this  to  some  extent. 

Fathers  followed  Fathers  in  succession,  and  each  in  his 
turn  stood  in  loco  parentis  to  the  Indian.  Yet,  in  the 
registers,  never  once  is  the  "new"  church  mentioned— 
the  present  church.  Concerning  the  date  of  its  erection 
there  are  few  tangible  facts  on  which  we  can  base  our 
reasoning,  so  that  the  point  has  always  remained  unsolved. 
There  are  many  stories  told  concerning  it,  some,  perhaps, 
in  part  true  and  others  due  to  the  Indian's  love  of  story- 
telling. It  may  be  well  to  stop  here  in  our  historical  nar- 
rative and  speculate  somewhat  as  to  its  date  and  construc- 
tion; all  that  is  known  and  seemingly  probable  I  shall 
try  to  give. 

We  find  the  building  standing  as  it  is  today,  thirty  years 
after  the  arrival  of  the  Franciscans.  Just  what  kind  of 
church  they  found  at  Bac  is  a  matter  of  supposition;  but, 
very  likely  it  was  similar  to  the  original  one,  namely  an 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAC.  65 

adobe  of  several  rooms.  One  must  bear  in  mind  that  it 
has  been  destroyed  twice.  As  Bac  was  one  of  the  most 
important  missions  and  the  most  distant  post,  the  Jesuits 
might  have  had  ideas  concerning  a  larger  and  more  durable 
structure;  in  fact,  it  is  very  possible  they  laid  the  present 
foundation  near  the  adobe  church  or  on  its  very  site,  though 
the  expulsion  would  necessarily  have  stopped  their  work. 

At  the  time  of  the  restoration  there  was  an  adobe  ruin 
to  the  rear  of  the  present  church,  believed  to  have  been 
the  first  structure.  It  also  comes  to  mind  that  the  present 
monastery  or  dormitory  wing  might  be  the  original  Jesuit 
church,  as  it  is  of  adobe  while  the  church  proper  is  baked 
brick.  If  the  church  and  dormitory  wing  were  built  at 
the  same  time,  why  should  the  dormitory  wing  not  need 
the  same  protection  of  heavy  and  well  constructed  walls? 
There  might  have  been  a  second  story,  for  a  stair-way  ran 
up  from  the  rear  of  the  eastern  end,  yet  the  earliest  print 
shows  the  stairway  covered,  but  no  trace  of  a  second  story. 
Should  this  be  the  original  church,  the  second  floor  might 
have  been  destroyed  during  the  several  attacks.  Old 
prints  also  show  the  windows  and  doors  as  being  arched, 
and  a  general  arched  entry,  such  as  would  be  in  keeping 
with  simple  church  architecture.  Not  wishing  to  destroy 
the  old  mission,  they  could  have  built  the  new  one  against 
it,  thus  merging  the  work  of  the  Jesuit  and  Franciscan  into 
one.  This  is  a  popular  idea,  perhaps  because  of  its  sim- 
plicity. However,  it  is  dismissing  the  idea  too  easily  with 
merely  a  pretty  and  poetic  explanation. 

The  old  Indians  today,  in  speaking  of  the  mission,  tell 
of  the  "black  robes."  For  the  most  part  they  have  spent 
the  whole  of  their  lives  in  its  monastic  shadow  and  their 
fathers  helped  build  it,  so  that  in  their  minds  the  good 


66  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

priests  are  still  closely  connected  with  the  structure.  The 
Jesuits  wear  black  robes  and,  true  to  the  Indian  nature, 
this  one  mark  characterized  the  priests  in  their  primitive 
minds.  It  is  evident  that  in  the  eye  of  the  Indian  the  white 
cord  would  characterize  the  Franciscan,  and  the  Indian 
after  being  under  his  guidance  for  over  a  hundred  years, 
would  hardly  speak  of  him  as  "black  robe";  and  further- 
more, the  Franciscan  robe  is  not  black  but  brown.  Again, 
the  Indians  who  have  seen  only  one  Order  or,  perhaps 
only  a  few  passing  priests,  call  them  the  "long  robes." 
So  it  seems  the  Indians,  sitting  around  their  fires  at  night, 
told  of  the  man  in  black  who  had  come  and  suddenly  gone ; 
and  today  the  old  Indians  stand  and  gaze  at  the  great 
mission  and  whisper;  "Black  Robe."  This  tends,  to  some 
extent,  to  show  that  the  mission  was  at  least  begun  by 
the  Jesuits. 

Another  striking  point  is  that  no  other  Franciscan  mis- 
sion, built  under  the  same  conditions,  is  cruciform  in  plan; 
San  Xavier  is  a  perfect  Latin  cross.  Take  the  missions  of 
California,  New  Mexico  and  Texas  and  one  finds  the  church 
proper  to  be  a  rectangle.  The  Franciscan  churches  of 
Mexico  often  have  a  cruciform  plan,  but  they  were  built 
not  so  much  as  missions;  they  were  in  a  settled  country, 
whereas  the  northern  part  of  Pimeria  Alta,  at  this  time, 
was  much  as  it  was  at  the  time  of  Father  Kino.  The 
only  other  Franciscan  mission  of  Arizona  worthy  of  note 
as  a  piece  of  architecture  is  Tumacacori,  finished  about 
1800,  several  years  later  than  San  Xavier.  In  many  ways 
it  is  more  pretentious,  but  in  plan  it  is  simply  a  rectangle. 
During  their  period  of  power  in  Church  and  State  the 
Jesuits  developed  fine  architects  and  builders,  while  the 
Franciscans  remained  silent  and  unseen.  As  far  as  studied 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAC.  67 

plan  is  concerned,  the  Jesuit  works  are  found  to  possess 
great  merit,  and  this  further  tends  to  prove  that  San  Xavier, 
which  not  only  differs  from  but  is  better  in  general  plan 
than  any  of  the  Franciscan  missions,  was  begun  by  the 
Jesuits. 

If  the  Jesuit  building  was  not  in  some  way  incorporated 
with  the  present  building,  why  should  the  Franciscans 
have  retained  the  name  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  who  was  a 
Jesuit  priest?  This  necessitated  their  giving  the  chief 
place  in  their  altar  to  his  figure.  The  Jesuits  were  held  in 
general  disfavor,  although  not,  perhaps,  by  the  Francis- 
cans. Nevertheless,  the  Franciscans  changed  the  names 
of  other  of  the  Jesuit  missions.  Another  point  of  interest 
is  the  symbol  which  appears  on  the  copper  cover  of  the 
baptismal  fount.  It  is  the  well  known  form,  made  up 
of  the  first  and  last  two  letters  of  IHSTS,  the  Greek 
word  for  Jesus.  The  symbol  was  often  employed  by  the 
Jesuits  and  sometimes  erroneously  believed  to  be  their 
accepted  monogram.  Over  the  main  entrance  of  the  fachada 
the  Franciscans  placed  their  coat-of-arms  and,  inside, 
their  emblematic  knotted  cord  runs  all  around  the  wall 
and  falls  in  two  large  tassels  on  either  side  of  the  altar. 

The  only  date  of  significance  in  the  church,  is  one  carved 
on  the  sacristal  door:  Pedro  Boj8  ano  die  — 1797,  which 
put  into  English  form  is  no  doubt  as  follows:  Pedro  Bojor- 
ques — on  a  day  in  the  year  1797.  He  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  builder  employed  by  the  fathers.  Vandals  have 
covered  many  of  the  walls  and  doors  with  their  names 
and  dates  of  pilgrimage,  but  they  are  as  uninteresting  as 
their  owners. 

The  record  of  Arricivita  brings  us  down  to  1791,  and 
from  then  on  we  know  but  little  of  mission  history  in  Ari- 

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SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAG.  69 

zona.  The  date  before  referred  to  on  the  sacristy  door 
may  be  taken  as  the  date  of  completion.  An  old  Indian 
some  thirty  years  ago  spoke  of  having  assisted  at  the  dedi- 
cation exercises  as  a  child;  so  we  reasonably  may  set  the 
date  as  1797.  To  be  sure,  all  that  is  known  concerning 
San  Xavier  is  scant  and  often  inaccurate;  but,  after  several 
years  of  diligent  research  I  have  concluded : 

1.  That  the  church  as  built  by  Father  Kino  was  of  adobe 
and  similar  to  the  mission  Guevavi;  very  likely  it  incor- 
porated a  prehistoric  ruin; 

2.  That  it  was  destroyed  two  or  more  times,  but  before 
the  expulsion,  the  Jesuits  laid  the  foundation  of  the  present 
church; 

3.  That  the  foundation  lay  untouched  for  a  few  years 
and  about  1783  the  present  church  was  built  upon  it  and 
dedicated  in  1797. 

It  flourished  until  the  year  1810,  when  the  cry  of  "Hidal- 
go" was  heard  all  over  Mexico.  From  then  on  the  missions 
suffered  either  from  revolutions  or  want  of  aid,  until  the 
Spanish  Cortes  on  September  13,  1813  passed  the  decree 
depriving  the  missionaries  of  all  control  over  their  missions, 
which,  in  turn,  reverted  to  the  State,  save  provision  of  a 
small  piece  of  land  to  each  Indian  family.  Thus  the  mis- 
sions were  reduced  to  mere  parish  churches;  and  many  of 
the  missionaries  left  for  new  fields  of  endeavor. 

In  1821  Mexico  declared  herself  a  Republic  and  the  re- 
maining fathers,  not  wishing  to  leave  the  Indians  without 
spiritual  guidance,  swore  allegiance  to  the  new  Govern- 
ment. Revolutions  arose  and  another  government  ap- 
peared which  the  fathers  would  not  recognize,  so  they  were 
all  driven  out;  at  least,  no  mention  is  made  of  a  Franciscan 
in  Arizona  after  1824.  With  them  passed  the  missions. 


70  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

San  Xavier  remained  without  a  priest  for  many  years, 
but  was  never  abandoned  by  the  Bishop  of  Sonora.  The 
parish  priest  at  Magdalena  was  in  charge,  but  the  Indians 
saw  a  minister  of  God  only  on  rare  occasions.  In  1854 
the  United  States  Government  purchased  from  Mexico 
the  land  known  as  the  Gadsden  Purchase.  This  consti- 
tuted the  northern  part  of  Pimeria  Alta,  bringing  the  mis- 
sions from  Guevavi  to  San  Xavier  into  the  boundaries  of  the 
United  States.  Arizona  was  put  in  the  diocese  of  Santa 
Fe,  New  Mexico,  in  1859.  The  Right  Rev.  J.  B.  Lamy, 
then  Bishop  of  New  Mexico,  sent  his  Vicar-General  J.  B. 
Machebeuf  (who  later  became  the  first  bishop  of  Denver, 
Colo.),  to  ascertain  the  condition  of  the  missions  and  the 
state  of  affairs. 

When  the  Indians  heard  that  a  priest  was  coming 
among  them,  they  brought  back  the  sacred  articles  of  the 
altar  which  they  had  taken  to  their  homes,  to  prevent 
them  from  being  carried  off.  They  rushed  to  the  towers 
and  rang  the  long  silent  bells,  welcoming  him;  and 
they  brought  their  children  to  be  baptized.  The  good 
priest  found  that  some  still  remembered  their  prayers  and 
he  was  more  than  surprised  that  a  few  could  sing  Mass. 
The  church  at  San  Xavier  was  the  only  mission  not  com- 
pletely in  ruins,  but  to  him  we  owe  its  preservation  today. 
He  covered  the  roof  with  cement  to  stop  leakage,  and 
braced  the  walls  to  prevent  spreading.  The  Indians  joy- 
fully helped  him  in  his  work,  for  it  was  they  who  for  years 
had  protected  the  mission,  as  best  they  could,  against  the 
raids  of  the  Apache.  He  could  spend  but  a  few  months  in 
Arizona,  as  his  duties  of  Vicar-General  called  him  to  his 
Bishop.  However,  his  favorable  report  was  the  means  of 
a  priest  being  sent  to  San  Xavier  again. 


72  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

In  March  1864,  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  himself  came  to 
Arizona  and  held  visitation  at  both  San  Xavier  and  the 
new  parish  of  San  Augustine  at  Tucson.  There  was  an 
attempt  made  in  1866  to  start  a  school  for  the  Indian  chil- 
dren but  because  of  limited  means,  it  lasted  only  a  few 
months.  Again  in  1873,  a  school  was  started  by  three 
Sisters  of  St.  Joseph  from  Carondelet,  Missouri.  They 
occupied  the  rooms  formerly  used  as  a  storehouse  by  the 
Franciscans.  The  teachers  were  very  successful  in  their 
work  and  the  Indians  were  beginning  to  take  an  interest 
in  their  studies  when,  in  1876,  the  lack  of  means  was  again 
felt  and  the  school  closed. 

The  need  of  spiritual  guidance  for  the  Indian  was  becom- 
ing a  serious  problem.  Since  1824  there  had  been  almost 
no  organized  effort  to  hold  a  priest  at  the  Mission  and  most 
of  the  time  it  was  without  sign  of  one.  The  keys  of  the 
Church  were  entruste'd  to  an  Indian  family,  and  every  two 
weeks  a  priest  from  Tucson  would  journey  to  the  Mission 
and  say  Mass. 

The  Right  Reverend  P.  Rourgade,  then  Rishop  of  Ari- 
zona, felt  the  great  need  of  religious  teachers  and  in  the 
fall  of  1886  he  offered  the  Mission  of  San  Xavier  to  the 
Franciscan  Order  again.  At  that  time  they  could  not 
accept  it  because  of  the  paucity  of  fathers.  However, 
nine  years  later,  towards  the  end  of  1895,  the  Very  Rev- 
erend Michael  Richardt,  O.F.M.,  provincial  of  the  Pro- 
vince of  the  Sacred  Heart,  accepted  St.  Mary's  congre- 
gation at  Phoenix,  Arizona,  and  with  it  the  care  of  the 
Pima,  Maricopa  and  other  Indian  tribes. 

The  restoration  was  begun  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
year  1906.  A  period  of  rainy  weather  had  seriously  dam- 
aged the  buildings  and  threatened  their  safety.  Rishop 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAC.  73 

Granjon  realized  the  grave  significance,  and  most  nobly 
undertook  the  work.  Under  his  personal  direction  the 
Church  and  adjoining  buildings  were  completely  gone  over, 
the  work  being  done,  for  the  most  part,  by  Indian  labor 
and  extending  over  a  period  of  three  years. 

The  extant  portions  were  reinforced  and  the  fallen  por- 
tions raised  from  their  ruins.  The  exteriors  of  the  Church 
and  buildings  were  entirely  plastered  and  the  front  wall 
wisely  made  more  attractive,  its  defensive  character  being 
now  quite  out  of  place,  considering  that  it  serves  the  gentle 
Papago  as  a  house  of  worship. 

Additional  dormitory  and  class  rooms  were  built  from  the 
right  end  of  the  dormitory  wing  and  extending  to  the  rear, 
thus  forming  a  patio.  A  cloister  was  incorporated  corre- 
sponding with  the  adjoining  original  one.  A  rear  orna- 
mental gateway  replaced  the  long  fallen  defensive  wall, 
thus  enclosing  the  patio. 

Old  cuts  and  photographs  were  closely  followed  and 
nothing  was  added  or  changed  except  in  a  few  minor  cases 
demanded  by  necessity.  So  successfully  was  the  design 


74  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

and  feeling  of  the  Mission  carried  out,  that  it  must  frankly 
be  admitted  that  it  is  impossible  upon  mere  observation 
to  distinguish  just  where  the  old  work  ends  and  the  new 
work  begins. 

To  Bishop  Granjon,  more  than  to  any  other  person  is 
due  the  credit  that  the  greatest  of  all  missions,  San  Xavier 
del  Bac,  stands  today  in  its  entirety. 

DESCRIPTION. 

The  church  faces  directly  south  contrary  to  the  general 
rule  that  the  apse  should  be  to  the  east.  In  view  of  the 
fact  that  all  the  supply  trains  and  whatever  visitors  they 
might  have  had  came  from  the  south,  the  rule  was  dispensed 
with;  besides,  topographical  conditions  would  not  lend 
themselves  so  well  to  any  other  arrangement.  To  follow 
the  description  with  understanding,  the  drawings  must 
be  referred  to  and  the  path  of  procedure  closely  followed, 
as  the  partie  is  somewhat  complicated. 

Let  us  imagine  ourselves  standing  on  the  plaza  before 
the  mission.  We  will  give  it  a  general  survey,  then  proceed 
directly  to  the  atrium  and  enter  the  church.  A  systematic 
route  will  be  followed:  first,  the  church  proper,  then  the 
towers,  dormitory  rooms,  and  patio,  and  last  the  mortuary 
chapel  and  its  enclosure. 

The  mission  stands  on  a  slightly  elevated  position  and  is 
easily  seen  from  distant  parts  of  the  valley.  The  padres 
had  few  roads  to  follow  and  the  mission  had  to  direct  the 
way  as  well  as  beacon  the  distant  Indian. 

The  fachada  of  the  church  is  symmetrical,  with  two 
plain  towers  on  either  side  of  an  ornate  gabled  entrance. 
Above  the  broken  arch  of  the  gable,  the  noble  dome  may 
be  seen  between  the  towers.  The  windows  and  doors  are 


76  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

symmetrically  placed  and  thrown  wholly  in  shadow  by  the 
heavy  walls.  Their  blackness,  contrasted  with  the  glist- 
ening whiteness  of  the  walls,  and  the  reddish  ornamenta- 
tion about  the  entrance  make  a  picture  against  the  cloud- 
less sky  and  endless  desert,  not  to  be  forgotten. 

To  the  left  is  the  mortuary  chapel  enclosed  by  a  wall  and 
separated  from  the  wall  of  the  atrium  by  only  a  narrow 
pathway.  To  the  right  is  the  chain  of  dormitory  rooms 
and  class-rooms  often  referred  to  as  the  monastery  or  the 
mission  buildings.  A  wall  encloses  the  whole  of  the  fachada 
and  joins  the  wall  of  the  mortuary  chapel  with  an  arch 
over  the  entrance  to  the  pathway.  The  wall  is  new  and 
more  elaborate  than  the  original  wall,  which  gradually 
fell  away  until  the  restoration.  The  photographs  show 
the  old  wall  standing  in  part  at  various  times.  A  striking 
thing  about  the  fachada  is  the  unfinished  tower  to  our 
right.  Originally  it  lacked  both  dome  and  plaster,  but 
during  the  restoration  the  mission  and  all  its  buildings 
were  plastered  completely  and  painted  white.  We  will 
pass  on  and  later  go  through  this  tower,  about  which  so 
much  wild  speculation  has  been  made. 

Let  us  now  cross  the  plaza  and  enter  the  wailed  atrium, 
which  separates  the  church  from  the  plaza.  Here  the 
Indians  were  gathered  together  for  meetings  not  directly 
connected  with  the  church.  It  was  originally  paved  with 
flag  stones,  which  gradually  broke  away  during  the  aband- 
onment, leaving  the  exposed  ground.  Strange  to  say,  the 
atrium  soon  became  literally  a  burying  ground,  the  Indian 
reasoning  that  the  nearer  to  the  church  he  rested,  the  better 
chance  he  would  have  for  paradise. 

The  fachada  is  well  worth  some  study.  Two  small 
doors  form  the  main  entrance,  while  about  it  and  high  over 


78  MISSION  ARCHITECTURE. 

our  heads  rises  the  rich  gabled  ornamentation,  the  one 
spot  of  display  on  the  whole  structure.  It  was  untouched 
even  at  the  time  of  restoration,  its  soft  red  tone  still  showing 
some  traces  of  the  original  colored  decoration. 

The  workmanship  is  exquisite  and  highly  graceful. 
Arabesques  in  low  relief  flow  over  the  flat  field,  and  on  each 
side  of  the  entrance  rise  two  vertical  and  fanciful  columns 
of  Moorish  feeling,  the  middle  ones  supporting  a  broken 
arch.  Between  the  columns  are  two  figures  in  niches, 
without  inscriptions.  Nevertheless,  we  may  quite  accur- 
ately infer  whom  they  represent.  The  first,  above  and  to 
the  left,  wears  a  crown  and  a  royal  robe,  and  we  may  take 
it  to  be  King  Charles  III.  of  Spain,  under  whose  sovereignty 
the  Church  was  built.  The  figure  below  is  totally  effaced. 

To  our  right,  the  above  figure  carries  a  tambourine,  and 
the  attribute  and  appearance  seem  to  fit  St.  Cecelia.  The 
figure  below  is  extremely  interesting.  Though  it  is  now 
almost  totally  obliterated,  the  Indians  still  continue  to 
burn  candles  in  the  niche  about  it,  as  they  have  done  for 
over  a  century.  The  figure  is  blackened  and  almost  a  mass 
of  candle  grease.  When  asked  the  reason  for  their  worship 
they  tell  you  that  the  good  saint  cures  their  sore  eyes. 
Trachoma  seems  to  be  a  common  ailment  among  the  South- 
west Indians  today.  The  rest  is  not  difficult  to  under- 
stand. The  old  Indians  have  handed  down  to  their  chil- 
dren the  stories  of  the  four  personages  represented,  while 
to  us  they  have  been  forgotten  during  the  years  of  abandon- 
ment. The  Indian  continued  to  live  about  the  church 
and  retained  much  of  his  religious  training,  and  this  saint 
seems  always  to  have  been  remembered,  thanks  largely 
to  the  Indian's  ocular  infirmity.  The  conditions  call  to 
mind  St.  Lucile,  who  is  often  invoked  for  eye  troubes. 


arc 


STATUETTE  ON  ORNAMENTAL  GABLE,  ST.  CECELIA.     Note  Tambourine. 


80  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

Over  the  entrance  is  one  of  the  three  front  balconies 
(the  tower  on  either  side  having  one),  and  above  its  doors 
is  placed  the  coat-of-arms  of  the  Order  of  St.  Francis  of 
Assisi.  It  consists  of  an  escutcheon  with  a  white  ground 
on  which  are  displayed  a  twisted  cord  (a  mark  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan dress)  and  a  cross  on  which  are  nailed  one  arm  of 
our  Savior  and  one  of  St.  Francis.  The  arm  of  the  Christ 
is  bare,  while  that  of  St.  Francis  is  covered.  The  meaning 
to  be  inferred  is  that  of  the  union  of  the  disciple  and  the 
Divine  Master  in  charity  and  in  suffering.  To  the  right 
of  the  escutcheon  is  the  monogram  of  Jesus,  the  Savior 
of  men,  and  to  the  left  that  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  Two 
ornamental  bunches  of  grapes  in  the  upper  decoration 
signify  the  land  of  plenty  and  two  small  lions  on  either 
side,  a  symbol  used  throughout  the  building,  represent  the 
Lions  of  Castile.  Surmounting  the  broken  gable  is  what 
remains  of  a  life-size  bust  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi.  For 
many  years  it  has  stood,  an  indistinguishable  cone  of 
plastered  brick  with  only  tradition  to  name  it.  Reminis- 
cent of  the  iron  barred  windows  of  Mexico,  the  padres 
used  carved  wooden  spindles,  which  are  very  appropriate; 
the  balconies  are  also  carefully  made  of  wood.  Over  each 
of  the  windows  in  the  tower  is  a  light  and  charming  decor- 
ation, monastic  in  its  quiet  simplicity  and  almost  imper- 
ceptible. It  reminds  one  of  the  echo  of  a  beautiful  song— 
a  song  that  will  never  be  heard  again. 

Let  us  now  enter  the  small  heavy  doors  into  the  church 
proper.  We  find  ourselves  at  once  in  the  nave,  but  in 
what  in  reality  corresponds  to  the  narthex  of  the  basilica, 
where  those  unfortunates  were  placed  who  were  not  con- 
sidered of  sufficient  purity  by  their  good  brothers,  who 
sat,  as  it  were,  in  the  inner  circle  near  the  altar.  However, 


82  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

the  narthex  was  of  little  use  in  the  case  of  the  Indian;  if 
he  came  at  all  the  padres  were  thankful.  Directly  over 
our  heads  is  the  choirloft  and  at  the  extreme  end  is  the 
main  altar.  The  plan  is  a  perfect  Latin  cross,  the  tran- 
septs dividing  the  church  into  an  apse  and  nave,  and  them- 
selves forming  two  chapels  on  either  side.  The  high  arches 
springing  from  the  Franciscan  frieze  around  the  wall  and 
pilasters  divide  the  church  into  six  parts.  Over  the  crossing 
of  the  transepts  and  nave,  the  dome  rises  on  the  arches 
and  pendentives.  Small  benches  are  placed  along  the 
nave,  leaving  a  central  aisle. 

The  air  is  very  cool  and  laden  with  a  heavy  incense. 
The  diffused  light  from  the  high  windows  at  first  gives  to 
all  a  bluish  tone;  but,  on  one's  becoming  accustomed  to 
the  light,  a  mass  of  color  grows  evident,  the  remains  of  a 
decoration  that  was  once  brilliant  in  the  extreme.  Even 
to  Eastern  eyes,  the  colors,  though  faded,  still  appear  gaudy 
and  bizarre.  Of  course,  this  holds  true  with  many  of  the 
paintings  done  in  a  sunny  land  by  a  native  people.  The 
East  is  a  land  of  grays  and  subtle  tones,  and  the  inhabitant 
develops,  perhaps,  a  finer  sense  of  color  values  than  his 
western  brother,  who  lives  in  a  land  of  intense  color.  Color- 
ing is  all  about  him  and  the  very  mountains  seem  to  radiate 
color.  Anyone  who  has  been  fortunate  enough  to  witness 
a  mirage  or  even  a  sunset  on  the  "Painted  Desert"  can 
well  appreciate  this  fact.  Take,  for  instance,  the  pictures 
of  the  Spanish  painter  Goya  or  his  follower  Zuloaga  or 
even  those  of  Sorolla  y  Bastida.  Their  pictures  are  worthy 
examples  and  the  colors  bold — reds,  yellows  and  blues, 
and  often  outlined  by  blacks.  To  an  eye  untrained  in 
such  a  school  they  are  perhaps  more  novel  and  virtuosi 
than  beautiful;  but  they  are  good  pictures,  nevertheless. 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAG.  83 

The  same  thought  may  be  applied  to  the  mission  of  the 
padres.  They  were  imbued  with  the  native  coloring  of 
Spain  and  the  violent  contrasts  of  Mexico;  they  built  the 
church  for  savages  who  lived  on  the  desert  sands  and  whose 
sole  expression  was  color.  The  white  walls  and  painted 
statues,  the  profusion  of  gilt  on  the  altar — all  is  even  now 
beauty  ad  infinitum  to  him.  Let  us  not  be  too  critical  in 
the  judgment  of  a  work  not  of  our  kind  nor  meant  for  us; 
rather,  let  us  consider  the  artisan  and  his  purpose,  then 
determine  whether  or  no  he  has  accomplished  his  end. 
At  any  rate,  to  the  author,  the  hand  of  time  has  merged 
and  scumbled  the  colors  until  they  all  blend  into  a  soft 
tone.  The  dados  have  almost  disappeared  and  many  of 
the  frescoes  are  practically  indistinguishable.  The  altars 
for  the  most  part  retain  their  gold-leaf,  now  a  rich  golden 
brown;  but  the  vaults  of  the  ceiling,  which  were  said  to 
have  been  so  covered,  are  now  entirely  barren,  thanks 
perhaps  to  unscrupulous  treasure-seekers. 

Let  us  begin  at  our  left  and  go  completely  around  the 
interior,  examining  the  statues,  frescoes,  and  other  things 
that  may  be  interesting.  Immediately  to  our  left  is  a 
small  door  which  opens  to  the  baptistry  in  the  tower. 
For  the  time  being  we  will  pass  this  by  and  consider  the 
small  receptacle  fashioned  in  the  corner  of  the  wall  and 
the  first  pilaster.  The  earthen  bowl  is  worn  away  by  the 
thousands  of  hands  dipped  into  its  waters  and  it  bears  mute 
witness  of  the  worshippers  of  a  past  century.  From  the 
pilaster  springs  the  arch  which  upholds  the  choir-loft 
and  from  the  former  is  projected  the  figure  of  a  cherub. 
Passing  on  we  come  to  another  door  which  opens  to  the 
outside,  and  was  a  convenient  way  to  the  mortuary  chapel. 
Then  comes  a  second  pilaster  in  which  is  a  niche  containing 

7 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAC.  85 

a  small  figure  of  St.  Matthew.  Many  such  figures  will 
be  seen,  all  very  good  examples  of  hand  carving  and  evi- 
dently brought  from  Mexico.  The  drawings  must  neces- 
sarily be  consulted  at  this  point  to  ascertain  the  general 
proportions  of  the  details  with  respect  to  the  ensemble. 
Next  we  come  to  a  large  fresco  of  the  "Last  Supper." 
It  has  been  darkened  by  time,  and  much  of  its  surface 
has  flaked  off.  The  third,  a  double  pilaster,  which  finishes 
one  corner  where  the  transept  crosses  the  nave,  has  a  niche 
on  either  side  containing  Saint  Bartholomew  and  Saint 
Philip. 

Entering  the  gospel  chapel  formed  by  the  transept,  we 
find  two  altars:  the  larger  one  at  the  end  is  very  similar 
to  the  main  altar  and  is  dedicated  to  the  Passion  of  our 
Lord,  and  the  second,  which  is  on  the  right,  to  St.  Joseph. 
To  the  left  and  above  is  a  large  fresco  of  the  Presentation 
of  our  Lord  in  the  Temple  and,  below,  another  picturing 
Our  Lady  of  the  Pillar  (an  apparition  of  the  Mother  of 
God,  at  Saragosa).  Here  also  stands  the  old  confessional 
chair  enclosed  in  a  curtained  booth. 

Let  us  now  pass  on  to  the  apse,  containing  the  main 
altar.  It  is  enclosed  by  a  low  hand-carved  railing,  corre- 
sponding to  the  elaborate  metal  screens  found  in  Spanish 
churches  in  which  art  the  Spanish  excelled.  On  either 
side  of  the  gateway  is  a  grotesque  figure  of  a  lion,  pre- 
sumably guarding  the  altar  and  symbolic  again  of  the 
Lions  of  Castile.  Each  held  a  huge  wooden  candle-stick, 
since  taken  away.  The  two  double  pilasters  at  the  meet- 
ing of  the  transepts  and  apse  contain  on  the  left  the  figures 
of  St.  James  and  St.  John,  and  on  the  right  St.  Thomas 
and  St.  Ignatius  Loyola.  Above,  the  figures  of  two  angels 
of  life  size  are  hung,  each  holding  a  silken  banner  on  which 


86  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

appear  the  words  "Gloria  in  Excelsis  Deo."  The  figures 
are  still  clothed  in  their  precious  coverings  and  are  indeed 
lovely  to  behold.  They  are  said  to  be  the  two  daughters 
of  the  artist  who  decorated  the  interior.  Before  us  rises 
the  main  altar,  dedicated  to  St.  Francis  Xavier.  His 
crowned  figure  occupies  the  chief  position  and  is  clothed  in 
rich  velvet  and  linen,  after  the  manner  of  the  figures  in 
Spanish  and  Mexican  cathedrals.  Above  is  the  figure  of 
the  Holy  Virgin  with  the  statues  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul 
on  either  side.  Surmounting  the  altar  is  the  figure  of  God, 
the  Creator.  The  figures  of  the  twelve  apostles  of  the 
Catholic  Church  are  placed  about  the  nave  in  regular 
crder,  starting  from  St.  Peter  on  the  main  altar.  The 
group  very  appropriately  adds  St.  Ignatius  Loyola,  the 
founder  of  the  Jesuit  Order,  as  the  last  and  thirteenth 
figure. 

The  frescoes  are  worthy  of  our  attention;  to  the  right 
are  "The  Adoration  of  the  Wise  Men"  and  "The  Flight 
into  Egypt,"  while  on  the  left  are  the  "Adoration  of  the 
Shepherds"  and  the  "Annunciation."  Near  the  altar 
stand  a  massive  table  and  simple  bench  with  a  low  back, 
both  preserved  from  the  original  furniture.  Two  fragments 
of  the  old  floor  may  also  be  seen  here,  they  wisely  having 
been  left  in  place  by  the  Bishop  when  he  directed  the 
Restoration. 

A  low  door  beneath  the  fresco  of  the  "Adoration  of  the 
Wise  Men"  opens  into  the  sacristy.  Here  we  find  a  square 
room  containing  a  closet,  formed  in  the  massive  wall  for 
the  priests'  garments,  and  a  piscini  for  washing  the  hands 
and  sacred  vessels.  The  ceiling  is  a  segmental  dome; 
parts  of  its  decoration  show  it  to  have  been  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  spots  in  the  whole  church,  the  color  of  the  flowered 


SAN  XAVIER  DEL  BAC,   Main  Altar  and  Pulpit. 


88  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

vault  being  the  marvel  of  modern  artists.  A  fresco  of 
the  Crucifixion,  the  largest  in  the  church,  appears  on  one 
of  the  walls.  In  this  room  were  kept  the  sacred  vessels, 
and  from  all  accounts  we  may  believe  the  Church  was, 


SAN  XAVIER  DEL  BAC.     CONFESSIONAL  CHAIR  AND  MUSICAL  WHEEL. 

at  the  time  of  secularization,  furnished  with  vestments 
unequalled  by  any  mission  of  the  Southwest.  This  is 
borne  out  by  the  fact  that  many  rare  objects  of  great  value, 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAC.  89 

once  belonging  to  the  mission,  are  now  in  the  possession 
of  residents  of  Arizona.  For  the  most  part,  they  were 
taken  when  the  mission  was  abandoned,  but  to  retain  them 
still  is  quite  inexcusable. 

There  are  the  huge  hand-carved  wooden  candlesticks 
which  were  held  by  the  lions  on  either  side  of  the  main 
altar;  and  a  rare,  solid  silver  candlestick  of  Spanish  crafts- 
manship, consisting  of  three  elephants  whose  raised  trunks 
uphold  the  receptacle  for  the  candle.  There  was  also  a 
solid  silver  communion  service,  which  was  taken  and  has 
never  been  seen  since.  It  may  be  that  these  fine  objects 
appear  to  more  advantage  on  private  buffets  than  on  the 
sacred  altars  for  which  they  were  intended.  We  will  let 
the  possessors  decide. 

The  door  through  which  we  entered  is  of  special  interest, 
as  it  bears  the  only  date  known  in  connection  with  the 
mission.  As  has  been  mentioned  elsewhere,  the  name 
"Pedro  Bojorques,  1797,"  appears  on  the  sacristal  side 
of  the  door.  The  letters  are  of  Spanish  design  and  cut 
with  great  care.  The  builder — if  so  he  was — seems  to 
have  shown  great  discretion  and  modesty  in  selecting 
the  place  on  which  to  put  his  mark,  that  peoples  to  come 
may  in  some  way  connect  the  simple  name  with  the  great 
work.  Another  door,  on  the  opposite  side,  opens  to  an 
arched  cloister  enclosing  the  patio. 

We  may  now  return  to  the  nave  and  continue  along  the 
opposite  walls  to  the  main  entrance  again.  First,  we  will 
study  the  second  chapel  formed  by  the  transepts,  named 
the  epistle  chapel.  Here  also  are  two  altars,  the  one 
directly  before  us  dedicated  to  the  "Mother  of  Sorrows" 
and  the  altar  to  the  left  to  the  immaculate  Conception. 
A  large  wooden  cross,  once  bearing  a  life-size  representation 


:c 


SAN    XAVIER    DEL   BAC.  91 

of  the  Christ,  is  imbedded  in  the  wall  above  the  figure 
of  Mary,  the  Mother.  The  dress  covering  the  latter 
figure  is  a  bridal  gown  donated  sixty  years  ago  by  a  young 
Indian  woman  who  pledged  to  give  to  the  church  her 
dearest  possession,  if  a  certain  prayer  were  answered.  On 
the  right  wall  of  the  chapel  are  two  frescoes,  one  portraying 
Our  Lady  of  the  Rosary  and  the  other,  above,  the  hidden 
life  of  our  Savior.  There  are  many  smaller  statues  placed 
about  the  transept al  altars  of  no  great  importance.  They 
represent  men  high  in  rank  in  the  Holy  Orders,  and  each 
has  some  attribute  by  which  he  may  be  recognized  as  well 
as  by  his  name  painted  on  the  base.  Small  cherubim  in 
bas-relief  upon  the  walls  hold  receptacles  for  candles, 
symbolic,  perhaps,  of  the  messengers  of  God  spreading 
light  and  humility  among  men. 

Stepping  back  into  the  nave,  we  pass  the  fourth  corner- 
pilaster  containing  the  figure  of  St.  Thaddeus,  the  last  in 
order  of  the  twelve  apostles.  What  would  have  been  the 
niche  for  Judas,  we  find  empty  and  cleverly  concealed  be- 
hind the  pulpit.  From  these  pilasters,  formed  by  the 
crossing  of  the  nave  and  transepts,  spring  the  graceful 
arches  that  upheld  the  great  dome.  Before  us  stands  the 
original  pulpit,  none  the  worse  for  time,  and  from  which 
English,  Spanish,  and  Papago  are  spoken  today.  The 
pulpit  shows  hand  carving  of  excellent  workmanship; 
and  considering  the  tools  and  conditions,  it  is  nothing  short 
of  marvelous.  One  must  continually  bear  in  mind  the 
facts  that  the  padres  were  several  thousands  of  miles  from 
the  base  of  supplies  and  that  most  of  their  work  was  done 
by  Indian  labor.  Passing  along  this  side  of  the  nave  we 
find  another  large  fresco,  opposite  the  first  one  we  saw  on 
the  other  side,  representing  the  Holy  Ghost  descending 
upon  the  disciples. 


92  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

The  next  pilaster  contains  the  figure  of  St.  Simon  and 
then  we  find  the  picture  of  a  door  painted  on  the  wall, 
similar  to  the  door  directly  opposite;  the  idea  is,  of  course, 
to  give  symmetry  to  the  interior.  Now  we  come  to  the 
other  pilaster  from  which  springs  the  arch  which  supports 
the  choir-loft,  and  discover  it  also  has  a  well  modelled  cheru- 
bim formed  with  it.  Here  we  find  a  similar  receptacle 
for  holy  water  and  opposite  the  Bapistry  door  is  a  like 
entrance  to  a  room,  at  one  time  used  as  mortuary  chapel, 
corresponding  to  the  same  in  old  basilicas.  We  have  now 
gone  completely  around  the  walls  of  the  church  proper. 

A  few  details  may  be  noted,  such  as  the  frescoes  on  the 
pendentives  upholding  the  low  vaults  of  the  ceiling  and 
those  in  the  drum  and  dome  over  the  crossing.  The  fres- 
coes on  the  pendentives  upholding  the  drum  are  of  some 
interest  as  they  picture  the  four  Latin  Doctors,  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas,  St.  Augustine,  St.  Jerome,  and  St.  Ambrose. 
The  dome  itself  is  covered  with  paintings  of  various  saints, 
few  of  which  can  now  be  recognized.  St.  Glair  with  the 
Remonstrance,  St.  Cecilia  with  a  tambourine  and  St.  Hed- 
wich  with  a  small  church  in  her  hand  are  distinguishable. 
The  Franciscan  frieze  running  about  the  walls  and  forming 
the  front  of  the  balcony,  is  of  great  interest  and  the  detail- 
drawing  of  it  should  be  studied.  Its  general  motif  is  car- 
ried throughout  the  whole  building  in  the  manner  of  cor- 
nices, copings  and  capitals  of  columns.  The  mission  of 
San  Jose  de  Tumacacori,  finished  several  years  later,  took 
over  the  design  in  its  interior  decoration.  The  Francis- 
can cord  is  the  feature  of  the  decoration  and  falls  in  two 
tassels  on  either  side  of  the  statue  of  St.  Francis  Xavier 
(the  Jesuit,  by  the  way),  in  the  main  altar.  From  the 
cord  falls  a  sort  of  hem,  representing  the  folds  of  the  robe. 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAG.  93 

Along  this  hem  are  hung  alternatingly  the  bell  and  the 
pomegranate.  The  vaults  of  the  ceiling  are  rigid  to  repre- 
sent shells,  while  the  vault  over  the  apse  forms  a  perfect 
shell,  springing  from  the  altar  as  a  center.  The  shell  is 
employed  throughout  as  one  of  the  many  forms  of  symbolic 
decoration,  all  of  which  will  be  taken  up  in  the  chapter  on 
architecture. 

Let  us  now  pass  to  the  towers  and  upper  parts  of  the 
church.  Stooping,  we  pass  through  the  door  to  the  bap- 
tistry and  find  ourselves  in  a  small  room,  beautifully 
decorated.  A  large  fresco  of  the  Baptism  of  Christ  appears 
on  the  wall.  The  room  is  groin- vaulted  and  contains 
the  lower  front  window,  reached  by  three  steps.  It  is 
barred  with  wooden  spindles  and  has  heavy  shutters  open- 
ing in.  Without  a  doubt,  such  construction  as  we  have 
encountered  was  to  assure  safety  in  case  of  another  uprising 
of  the  Indians.  In  the  center  of  the  room  is  the  baptismal 
font,  a  pedestal  of  burned  brick  enclosing  a  copper  bowl. 
The  covering  is  also  of  copper  and  contains  the  mono- 
gram, I.  H  S.,  Jesus,  Savior  of  Men.  Today  it  is  rarely 
used  but  stands  worn  and  broken,  bearing  mute  note  of 
the  baptisms  the  ragged  registers  record. 

The  stairs,  built  in  the  thickness  of  the  walls,  take  us 
to  the  choir-vestry,  adjoining  the  choir-loft.  Its  ceiling, 
too,  is  groin- vaulted,  but  the  walls  are  uncolored;  a  door 
opens  to  a  front  balcony.  The  best  view  of  the  interior 
of  the  church  may  be  obtained  from  the  choir-loft.  Here 
we  find  a  few  interesting  frescoes  of  the  Holy  Family  and 
the  home  at  Nazareth,  St.  Francis  represented  as  wrapt  up 
by  Heavenly  love  in  a  fiery  chariot  and  St.  Dominic  re- 
ceiving the  Rosary  from  the  Blessed  Virgin.  In  the  pen- 
dentives  are  the  four  evangelists  with  their  characteristic 


94  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

attributes.  Around  the  walls  are  projecting  beams  on 
which  seats  were  placed  for  the  singers,  and  on  the  walls 
are  painted  beautifully  upholstered  backs.  A  door  opens 
upon  the  balcony  over  the  main  entrance  and  another 
opens  to  a  room  similar  to  the  choir-vestry  in  the  opposite 
tower. 

From  the  choir-vestry  the  stairs  lead  to  the  belfry, 
around  which  is  a  small  balustrade  and  within,  a  seat  for 
the  bell-ringer  to  sit,  or  to  rest — if  he  be  an  Indian. 

Three  bells  make  up  the  chime,  although  originally  the 
mission  had  four  in  each  tower.  One  of  the  bells  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  famous  "lost  chime"  of  San  Juan  Bautista  in 
California.  It  is  well  cast  and  its  inscription  quite  clear — 
S.  JVAN  BAVTJSTA- 

The  two  remaining  bells  are  poorly  cast  and  the  inscrip- 
tion on  one  is  entirely  unintelligible;  the  other  inscription 
reads  I.  I.  SERA  XABYER  A.A.D.  1807.  The  tone  of 
the  last  two  compares  in  no  way  with  that  of  the  first, 
but  the  trio,  nevertheless,  sound  sweet,  pealing  over  the 
silent  desert. 

A  few  more  risers  take  us  to  the  roof,  but  at  this  time  let 
us  climb  the  remaining  flights  of  stairs  to  what  we  may 
call  the  cupola,  which  culminates  in  a  domical  vault.  Here 
a  wonderful  panorama  of  the  valley  unfolds  itself  to  us. 

Descending  to  the  roof  we  may  walk  about  and  then 
visit  the  other  tower.  Around  the  edge  of  the  roof  is  a 
low  ornamental  parapet  wall  culminating  at  equal  dis- 
tances in  a  small  decorative  spire  set  on  either  side  with 
lion  heads,  at  one  time  very  similar  to  those  griffin-like 
figures  on  either  side  of  the  altar,  but  since  replaced  by 
others  far  too  modern — that  is,  machine-made.  Here 
one  has  the  opportunity  to  study  the  huge  dome  and  drum, 


SAN   XAVIEB   DEL   BAC.     Belfry   and   Parapet   Wall.     Bell   from   San   Juan 
Bautista  is  to  the  left. 


96  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

rising  high  above  the  roof.  The  dome  is  interesting  in 
many  ways  and  compares  favorably  with  many  famous 
domes  of  the  world  as  to  artistic  merit  and  construction. 
The  octagonal  drum  contains  four  small  fanciful  windows 
which  let  fall  the  rays  of  the  sun  on  the  altar  below.  Cross- 
ing to  the  east  tower,  we  find  it  exactly  like  the  other  save 
that  it  lacks  a  small  dome,  and  the  outside  stairway  from 
the  roof  is  of  different  design.  Just  why  this  tower  was 
left  unfinished  is  hard  to  say.  The  brick  masons  did  not 
die,  for  they  later  constructed  the  mission  of  Tumacacori, 
—which  also,  by  the  way,  seems  never  to  have  had  a  dome 
over  its  single  massive  tower.  We  may  give  the  credit 
for  one  explanation  to  the  Indian,  an  excellent  story-teller, 
who  never  allows  the  narrow  margin  of  truth  to  mar  a 
good  story. 

When  the  good  fathers  were  finishing  the  last  tower  and 
the  big  church  was  nearing  completion,  he  says,  one  of 
their  number,  about  to  apply  the  first  brick  in  making  the 
dome,  lost  his  balance  and  fell  to  the  ground.  And  the 
tower  was  never  touched  again.  Such  an  explanation, 
though  simple  and  beautiful,  will  not  satisfy  everyone. 
Many  hold  the  condition  arose  from  the  lack  of  funds, 
which  reason  has  much  in  its  favor.  The  missionaries 
built  their  churches  with  the  limited  materials  at  hand 
and  from  the  scant  proceeds  derived  from  the  land  assigned 
each  mission  and  from  their  live  stock.  Besides,  each 
padre  received  provisions  from  the  government  amounting 
to  $300  yearly.  This,  to  some  extent,  explains  why  the 
building  of  the  missions  took  so  long  a  time,  but  it  can  hardly 
be  applied  as  the  reason  for  the  unfinished  condition  of 
San  Xavier.  It  is  out  of  the  question  to  suppose  that 
they  would  have  spent  the  traditional  fourteen  years  in 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAG.  97 

the  building  of  the  structure  and  then,  when  at  most  not 
more  than  one  week's  work  remained,  have  stopped  all 
operations.  Another  reason  may  be  offered,  though  today 
often  held  in  disfavor  by  the  Church.  Many  of  the  great 
cathedrals  of  Europe  are  in  a  strikingly  unfinished  con- 
dition; and  most  of  the  cathedrals  of  Mexico  have  been 
left  unfinished,  in  some  part.  In  regard  to  the  former, 
the  cause  may  be  attributed  for  the  most  part  to  weary 
abandonment.  They  were  built  at  various  times,  over  a 
period  of  several  hundred  years,  and  gradually  the  work 
was  discontinued.  On  the  other  hand,  tradition  relates 
that  the  unfinished  condition  is  due  to  the  fact  that  church 
property  was  taxed  at  one  time,  unless  unfinished.  At 
any  rate,  the  idea  of  the  unfinished  appearance,  the  unsym- 
metrical,  became  incorporated  in  church  architecture, 
and  even  today  many  large  churches  are  designed  with 
this  bit  of  historic  precedent  in  mind. 

To  be  sure,  the  modest  churches  of  the  padres  would 
hardly  have  been  taxed  at  any  time;  and  if  we  would  apply 
this  theory  to  San  Xavier,  we  must  imagine  the  padres 
sincerely  trying  to  imitate  the  cathedrals  of  their  native 
land;  hence,  they  left  off  a  cupola — it  was  quite  the  thing. 

As  there  are  no  bells  in  this  tower,  the  stairway  has  been 
blocked  up  at  the  second  floor.  This  gives  rise  to  the  so- 
called  "dungeon"  about  which  we  often  hear.  True,  it 
is  a  rather  dark  hole  to  descend  into,  and  hundreds  of  bats 
make  it  all  the  more  uncanny.  One  not  acquainted  with 
the  plan  of  the  structure,  might  well  wonder  upon  first 
seeing  the  dark  passage  just  where  it  does  lead,  especially 
as  the  towers  and  upper  parts  of  the  church  are  usually 
closed  to  visitors.  However,  both  towers  are  exactly 
alike  and  there  is  no  "secret"  chamber. 


98  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

To  return,  we  must  therefore  go  by  the  way  we  came, 
that  is,  across  the  roof,  down  the  west  tower  and  into  the 
nave.  Now,  let  us  enter  the  room  opposite  the  Baptistry, 
which,  bear  in  mind,  is  the  first  floor  of  the  unfinished  tower. 
It  corresponds  to  the  mortuary  chapel  of  the  early  basilica 
and  now  serves  as  a  dining-room  for  the  Sisters.  From 
here  a  passage  opened  through  the  stairway  to  a  large  room, 
included  between  the  transept  and  the  tower.  It  was 
used  as  a  provision  room,  but  it  is  now  divided  by  a  par- 
tition, the  part  next  to  the  transept  made  into  a  beautiful 
chapel  and  the  other  towards  the  dining  room,  used  as  a 
storeroom.  Both  are  now  reached  from  the  outside. 

Adjoining  the  dining  room  is  the  kitchen,  included  in 
the  monastery  adjoining  the  church  and  extending  away 
towards  the  east.  At  one  time  this  dormitory  feature 
included  rooms  for  the  priests,  soap  factory,  stores  for 
provisions,  and  several  farm  houses,  some  of  them  ex- 
tending south  and  facing  on  the  plaza.  A  heavy  wall 
enclosed  the  space  to  the  rear  of  the  dormitory  rooms, 
forming  a  rear  yard.  Here,  in  case  of  attack,  the  women 
were  placed  for  protection  while  the  men  took  their  position 
on  the  near-by  fortified  hills. 

In  1873,  the  dormitory- wing  was  repaired  and  turned 
into  class  rooms,  while  another  dormitory  group  was  built 
extending  to  the  north,  enclosing  a  patio.  At  the  time  of 
restoration,  what  remained  of  the  old  wall  was  replaced 
by  one  more  elaborate.  An  arched  cloister  ran  around  the 
two  sides  of  the  rear  court  and  was  later  extended  with 
the  new  dormitory  rooms. 

Let  us  now  cross  over  the  atrium  to  the  West  side  of 
the  church  and  enter  the  cemetery.  Originally  the  entry 
was  in  the  north  wall,  as  the  old  photographs  show,  but 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAC.  101 

as  the  north  yard  was  later  set  aside  for  the  domestic  ani- 
mals, the  entry  was  changed  to  its  present  position  in  the 
east  wall.  The  little  chapel  to  the  west  is  where  the  bodies 
were  kept  until  the  ceremony  of  burial  could  be  performed. 

It  is  surmounted  by  a  low  dome  with  a  lantern,  and  over 
the  entrance  rises  a  graceful  gable-belfry  in  which  are 
places  for  three  small  bells,  only  one  of  which  is  now  in 
place.  The  chapel  has  since  been  dedicated  to  "Our 
Lady  of  Sorrows." 

Around  the  walls  of  the  yard  are  the  fourteen  Stations 
of  the  Cross,  replaced  at  the  time  of  restoration.  All 
traces  of  graves  have  disappeared,  but  very  likely  many 
of  the  early  fathers  repose  within  its  walls  as  well  as  in  the 
church  itself. 

ARCHITECTURE  AND  DECORATION. 

In  studying  San  Xavier  del  Bac,  we  are  dealing  with 
the  most  perfect  example  of  mission  architecture,  yet  how 
seldom  is  its  significance  realized.  One  hears  a  great 
deal  more  of  the  California  missions,  thanks  to  a  peculiar 
faculty  for  advertising,  indigenous  with  the  "Native  Son." 
But  the  popular  thing  is  rarely  the  most  deserving,  from 
an  artistic  or  architectural  standpoint. 

The  California  missions,  for  the  most  part,  are  charm- 
ingly without  architecture ;  they  have  a  decided  picturesque 
quality  that  is  more  appealing  to  the  painter  than  to  the 
architect.  The  physical  California  cannot  be  forgotten. 
The  tourist,  sitting  idly  in  the  soft  shade  of  the  palm  trees, 
contemplating  the  humble  mission  with  its  white  walls 
and  red  roof,  set  against  the  green  hills  or  ocean,  feels 
that  he  has  seen  all  the  missions  have  to  offer.  One  could 
hardly  expect  him  to  sit  idly  in  the  scorching  sun  on  the 


102  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

desert  sands  and  contemplate  anything.  Take  the  natural 
settings  from  the  California  missions  and  one  finds  little 
left  in  the  way  of  charm  or  beauty. 

San  Xavier,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  desert,  with  nothing 
but  sands  and  sage-brush  about,  hemmed  in  by  distant 
mountains,  has  always  attracted  artists  and  students 
through  its  very  greatness.  Travelers  who  have  seen  other 
missions  stand  amazed  before  this  great,  white,  isolated 
cathedral.  Someone  has  said  that  it  would  do  justice  to 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York.  Perhaps  so,  as  an  archaeologi- 
cal specimen,  but  hardly  from  an  aesthetic  point  of  view. 
It  is  peculiarly  in  harmony  with  the  desert — a  land  terrible 
in  its  desolation  yet  subtly  beautiful  in  its  moods  of  color, 
Like  all  of  the  missions  it  was  influenced  directly  by  Mexico, 
but  besides,  it  expresses  to  a  marked  degree,  the  best  fea- 
tures of  the  mission  style  as  exhibited  by  all  the  other 
missions.  To  some  extent,  it  served  as  a  model  for  the 
larger  missions,  there  being  relations  at  various  times 
between  the  padres  and  inhabitants  of  the  different  fields. 
However,  the  missions  that  came  later  were  influenced  by 
pseudo-classicism  and  many  grew  to  resemble  ludicrous 
Greek  temples  as  far  as  the  fachada  was  concerned. 

No  mission  excels  San  Xavier  in  serious  design  and  pure 
artistry.  The  two  admired  towers  of  Santa  Barbara  fall 
far  short  when  compared  with  those  of  San  Xavier,  and  the 
noble  dome  of  the  latter  has  stood  unequa'ed.  San  Xavier 
alone  contains  elaborate  vaulting  and  great  arches,  while 
its  cruciform  plan  places  it  in  a  position  unique  among 
missions.  Its  frescoes  and  ornamented  altars  are  praised 
by  artists  today,  whereas  other  missions  were  contented 
with  a  colored  wall. 

In  general  most  of  the  missions  are  imbued  with  a  de- 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAC.  103 

cided  Moorish  feeling.  San  Xavier,  however,  being  more 
pretentious,  cannot  be  designated  as  an  example  of  any  one 
style,  especially  when  one  considers  the  many  influences 
then  bearing  upon  it.  Traces  of  the  Moorish,  Byzantine 
and  basilican  styles  are  all  in  evidence,  but  to  analyze  the 
work  thoroughly  is  a  hopeless  task,  as  all  merge  into  one 
and  form  a  part  of  the  mission  style. 

The  Moor  with  his  abstract  decoration  and  fanciful 
ornamentation  is  perhaps  more  strongly  felt  by  the  casual 
observer.  The  stilted  arches  and  elaborate  Franciscan 
"frieze,"  the  arabesques  on  the  fachada  and  altars,  and  the 
colored  dados  and  other  parts  of  the  walls  in  imitation 
of  glazed  tile,  breathe  his  influence.  At  one  time  the 
ornamental  gable  of  the  fachada  was  colored  to  represent 
tile  work,  and,  it  may  be  inferred,  the  great  dome  also 
was  a  mass  of  glittering  color.  This  influence  was  due 
to  the  native  Mexican  love  of  coloring  and  the  compli- 
cated carving  of  the  Aztec,  which  affected  to  a  marked 
degree  the  architecture  of  the  Spanish  conquerors. 

The  cruciform  plan  is  of  Eastern  influence,  but  much  of 
the  arrangement  and  placement  of  rooms  is  after  the  Chris- 
tian basilica.  Its  monolithic  form,  barrel-vaults  and  high 
domes  carried  on  pendentives  may  unmistakably  be  traced 
to  the  Eastern  Church.  The  Byzantines  cared  little  about 
the  exterior  of  their  churches;  true  to  Eastern  fashion, 
the  inside  was  to  them  the  sole  object  of  interest.  Hence, 
what  little  Byzantine  influence  we  may  expect  to  find 
in  San  Xavier  will  evidently  be  more  strongly  character- 
ized in  the  interior  decorations.  And  so  we  find  glitter  of 
gold  and  riot  of  color;  carved  statues  and  figures  clothed 
in  silk  and  linen;  all  somewhat  bizarre  and  superfluous. 
Every  conceivable  wall  space  bears  decoration,  and  fres- 
coes take  the  place  of  the  wonderful  mosaics  of  the  East. 


SAN  XAVIER  DEL  BAC.     Detail  of  Main  Altar. 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL  BAG.  105 

The  frescoes  possess  real  merit.  They  were  done,  tra- 
dition says,  by  an  artistic  monk  of  the  college  of  Queretero, 
who  was  a  pupil  of  Francisco  Eduardo  de  Tresfuerras, 
the  "Michael  Angelo  of  Mexico."  The  subjects  are  treated 
in  a  conventional  manner  and  show  the  artist  to  have  been 
well  acquainted  with  many  of  the  great  European  master- 
pieces. The  smaller  decorations  were  done  by  assistants 
and  have  a  primitive  appearance  that  is  not  altogether 
distasteful.  The  drawing  on  the  whole  resembles  that  of 
Fra  Angelico,  but  the  coloring  has  the  finesse  of  a  Botti- 
celli. The  portraits  of  saints,  figures  of  angels  and  Biblical 
incidents  are  sometimes  amusingly  naive.  For  instance, 
the  Virgin,  who  is  represented  as  presenting  St.  Dominic 
with  the  Rosary,  resembles  more  a  lady  of  Queen  Elizabeth's 
court;  and  again,  Christ's  home  is  a  large  two  story  house 
situated  on  an  estate  beside  the  sea,  a  house  the  poor  car- 
penter of  Galilee  could  hardly  have  expected  to  inhabit 
even  if  such  were  then  constructed.  The  faces  are  devoid 
of  expression  and  bear  the  same  unhappy  look  character- 
istic of  the  wooden  statues.  All  is  touched  by  a  childish 
simplicity  which,  perhaps,  has  a  subtle  meaning  after  all. 
They  were  intended  for  the  Indian,  and  his  first  lessons  of 
Christianity  were  through  art;  he  was  taught  the  terrible 
end  of  sinners  by  their  agonized  expression  in  seas  of  flames ; 
and  he  was  shown  the  serenity  of  angels  on  the  wooded 
banks  of  quiet  waters. 

Behind  the  mere  ornamentation  lies  a  significant  meaning. 
Everything  seems  to  be  symbolic;  the  symbols  alone  in 
connection  with  San  Xavier  would  justify  some  intensive 
study.  The  shell  plays  an  important  part,  signifying  pil- 
grimage and,  sometimes,  baptism.  Over  the  apse  is  a 
huge  shell  springing  from  the  top  of  the  altar,  and  also 


106  MISSION  ARCHITECTURE. 

above  the  front  entrance  is  a  shell.  The  two  large  bunches 
of  grapes  on  the  fachada,  no  doubt,  refer  to  "the  land  of 
plenty,"  bearing  out  Father  Kino's  letter  describing  the 
discovered  paradise.  On  the  main  altar  appear  stalks  of 
wheat  and  clusters  of  grapes,  signifying  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ. 

"And  He  took  bread,  and  gave  thanks,  and  broke  it, 
and  gave  unto  them,  saying: 

'This  is  my  body,  which  is  given  for  you.' 
'This  cup  is  the  new  testament  in  my  blood,  which 
is  shed  for  you.'" 

LUKE  XXII.,  19,  20. 

The  two  lions  on  either  side  of  the  altar  and  their  con- 
ventional form  used  throughout  the  structure  are  reminis- 
cent of  the  escutcheon  of  Castile  and  Leon. 

The  interesting  Franciscan  "frieze"  contains,  besides 
the  knotted  cord  (part  of  the  Franciscan  dress),  the  bells 
and  pomegranate,  recalling  the  scriptural  text: 

"And  beneath,  upon  the  hem  of  it,  [the  priests' 
garment],  thou  shalt  make  pomegranates  of  blue,  and 
of  purple,  and  of  scarlet,  round  about  the  hem  thereof. 

"A  golden  bell  and  a  pomegranate  upon  the  hem  of  the 
robe  around  about. 

"And  it  shall  be  upon  Aaron  to  minister,  and  his 
sound  shall  be  heard  when  he  goeth  in  unto  thy  holy 
place  before  the  Lord,  and  when  he  cometh  out,  that  he 
die  not." 

EXODUS  XXVIIL,  33,  34,  35. 

The  pomegranate  is  symbolical  of  spiritual  fruitfulness 
and  reproduction. 
The  coat-of-arms  of  the  Franciscan  Order  over  the  en- 


SAN  XAVIER  DEL  BAC.     Ornamental  Gable  about  Main  Entrance. 


108  MISSION  ARCHITECTURE. 

trance  has  been  mentioned  and  many  monograms  occur 
throughout,  of  no  great  interest.  Even  the  "star"  window 
used  in  the  drum  over  the  crossing  has  some  historical 
and  artistic  interest.  It  is  said  that  when  the  Moors  were 
employing  their  Christian  subjects  to  carry  out  their  archi- 
tectural ideas,  the  latter  cleverly  incorporated  the  form  of 
the  cross  in  the  decoration  whenever  possible,  so  that  when 
forced  to  look  towards  Mecca  they  would  behold  the  cross. 
The  window  is  seen  to  be  designed  upon  the  axis  of  a  cross. 

San  Xavier  is  interesting  from  any  angle  of  observation. 
It  has  inspired  artistic  expression  from  men  of  many  arts. 
Even  to  the  casual  observer,  though  a  thing  of  wondrous 
beauty,  it  presents  an  anomaly,  a  paradox.  It  will  not 
always  be  with  us.  Only  three  large  missions  are  in  use 
today,  and  time  will  soon  claim  them  as  it  has  the  others. 
San  Xavier  is  weakening  and  the  great  arches  are  badly 
cracked.  Buttresses  will  be  added  but  to  no  avail,  and 
gradually  the  greatest  of  all  missions  will  be  a  thing  of  the 
past. 

CONSTRUCTION. 

Every  mission  of  any  size  and  architectural  importance 
usually  had  its  special  group  of  architects  and  builders,  of 
which  the  community  was  very  proud.  In  fact,  there 
existed  a  sort  of  good-natured  rivalry  among  the  several 
missions  of  a  "chain"  in  proving  their  artistic  ability  with 
the  scant  material  at  hand.  The  architect  with  them  was 
the  real  dpxireKrcoj/  of  old  and  not  merely  the  designer — he 
was  both  artist  and  builder,  and  the  padres,  to  whom  fell 
the  task,  usually  showed  their  rare  ability  and  thorough 
training. 

One  is  apt  to  judge  the  architectural  and  structural 
qualities  of  the  missions  by  the  work  being  done  today. 


'•; 


211 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAC.  Ill 

We  often  find  the  padres  spoken  of  as  uneducated  men, 
who  knew  no  better  than  to  leave  great  blank  walls  of  sur- 
prising thickness  and  with  ornamentation  of  mud!  True, 
their  buildings  are  simple;  there  is  little  play  of  stress  against 
stress  as  seen  in  the  elaborate  system  of  flying  buttresses 
in  a  Gothic  cathedral,  which  many  people  believe  to  be 
the  only  church  architecture.  But  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  padres  were  from  Spain,  where,  of  all  coun- 
tries, Gothic  had  the  least  hold.  For  that  matter,  neither 
do  we  find  traces  to  any  marked  degree  of  the  Norman, 
Classic  or  even  Renaissance,  save  a  few  suggestions  of  the 
latter  in  ornamentation.  Such  was  not  the  architecture 
of  Spain,  and  besides,  the  padres  did  not  have  huge  stones 
or  timber  of  sufficient  size  to  carry  out  whatever  other 
ideas  they  may  have  had.  They  simply  had  the  adobe 
beneath  their  feet,  small  stones  from  the  distant  moun- 
tains, and  trees  to  be  felled  with  a  few  crude  tools. 

Their  Indian  workmen,  though  willing  enough,  knew 
nothing  of  building  save  putting  up  a  few  sticks  in  the  ground 
and  fastening  a  cover  over  to  keep  off  the  rays  of  the  sun. 
And  thus  the  padres  found  themselves  handicapped  and 
were  helpless  to  do  other  than  perpetuate  in  the  crudest 
way  the  style  best  fitted  to  the  limitations,  and  one  with 
which  they  were  to  some  extent  familiar.'  Without  a 
doubt,  their  artistic  soul  shrank  when  they  viewed  these 
simple  churches  and  thought  of  the  grandeur  and  beauty 
of  the  originals  across  the  water. 

From  all  accounts,  we  may  reason  they  had  one  thousand 
Indian  men  at  their  disposal,  but  these,  no  doubt,  proved 
as  much  hindrance  as  help.  We  may  take  it  for  granted 
that  skilled  workmen  were  present  beside  the  padres  them- 
selves. Tradition  of  the  Gaona  brothers  and  the  name 


112  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

of  Pedro  Borjorques  have  been  referred  to,  though  it  is 
not  known  whether  they  were  in  any  way  connected  with 
the  Order.  Then,  the  padres  themselves  were  artisans 
and  for  the  most  part  clever  artists.  We  may,  therefore, 
imagine  a  group  of  well-educated  men  assisted  by  Indians 
as  the  builders  of  the  present  church.  It  is  said  the  build- 
ing of  it  required  fourteen  years. 

The  adobe  was  dug  and  made  into  bricks,  sometimes 
burned  in  kilns  on  the  spot.  Although  no  traces  remain 
at  San  Xavier,  the  kilns  may  still  be  seen  at  Tumacacori,. 
though  nothing  more  than  holes  in  the  ground. 

Adobe  is  a  heavy,  plastic  clay  found  in  abundance  in 
the  Southwest  and  Mexico,  and  has  been  used  from  the 
earliest  times  as  a  building  material.  The  word  is  prob- 
ably of  Arabian  origin,  but  appears  in  the  Mexican-Spanish 
vernacular  as  the  verb  adobar,  to  plaster;  as  the  noun 
adobe,  it  is  applied  to  the  clay  and  the  formed  brick.  Before 
the  Spanish  Conquest,  the  brick  was  made  simply  by  mixing 
the  clay  with  water,  or  at  times  with  cactus  juice.  The 
adobes  of  the  Spaniards  are  very  similar  except  that  they 
are  strengthened  by  straw  or  grass,  or  even  small  twigs. 
They  are  laid  in  adobe  mortar  and  the  walls  usually  plas- 
tered with  lime  plaster,  although  the  natives  used  adobe 
for  this  purpose  also.  The  adobes  used  in  San  Xavier 
are  of  a  conventional  size,  which  seems  always  to  have- 
existed,  namely,  5"  x  10"  x  20". 

The  adobe  when  burned  was  found  to  make  a  very  satis- 
factory brick,  though  necessarily  made  smaller,  those  of 
San  Xavier  measuring  about  2"x8"xl2".  The  finished 
brick  is  of  a  vermilion  color  and  its  excellent  quality  is- 
vouched  for  in  the  age  of  San  Xavier  as  contrasted  with 
the  ruin  and  disappearance  of  the  majority  of  missions,. 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAC.  113 

nearly  all  of  later  date.  The  California  missions,  of  which 
not  more  than  two  may  be  said  to  be  well  preserved,  namely, 
San  Gabriel  and  Santa  Barbara,  are  for  the  most  part  stone, 
found  near  at  hand.  Yet  they  have  gone,  while  San  Xavier 
has  stood.  Perhaps  "it's  the  climate!"  Nevertheless, 
the  Gaona  brothers  must  be  given  credit  as  brickmakers 
the  equal  of  even  their  progenitors. 

The  walls  are  quite  straight  and  the  angles  surprisingly 
accurate.  Considering  two  walls  in  their  entirety  rather 
than  working  immediately  at  their  intersection,  we  find 
the  angle  is  invariably  within  a  minute  of  ninety  degrees.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  so  great  is  the  accuracy  found  in  the  general 
construction  that  the  plans  have  been  drawn  with  T-square 
and  triangles  as  one  would  those  of  any  modern  building. 
Missions  as  a  rule  are  not  well  laid  out;  most  of  them  are 
far  from  it.  But  San  Xavier  is  an  exception  and  a  mission 
of  missions. 

The  body  of  the  church  is  made  altogether  of  burned 
brick,  even  the  upper  floors  and  roof,  including  the  dome. 
The  structure  is  of  solid  brick,  with  a  paucity  of  wood  that 
is  surprising.  Only  the  doors  with  their  frames,  and  the 
spindles  before  the  windows,  along  with  the  three  front 
balconies  and  some  interior  details  may  claim  to  have  been 
part  of  the  almost  fabulous  forest  which  once  stood  about. 

The  roof  is  built  in  the  form  of  six  low  vaults  about  the 
large  drum  over  the  crossing.  The  great  dome  is  one  of 
the  very  noteworthy  features,  and  is  scarcely  surpassed 
even  today  in  workmanship.  It  is  constructed  wholly  of 
brick  and  laid  up  without  centerings.  It  seems  incredible 
that  such  a  masterpiece  should  have  been  built  by  the  simple 
artisans,  especially  when  one  comes  upon  it  unawares 
in  the  heart  of  the  desert. 


114  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

The  foundation  is  of  boulders  imbedded  in  a  sort  of 
cement  mixture  and  averages  two  feet  above  the  grade, 
starting,  perhaps,  five  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ground. 
The  stones  vary  from  three  inches  to  twelve  in  diameter 
and  were  brought  from  the  mountains,  a  distance  of  twenty 
miles  or  so.  This  task  was  usually  assigned  to  the  women, 


SAN  XAVIER  DEL  BAC.     DOME  AND  DRUM. 
Note  the  Moorish  windows  and  segmental  domes  of  the  roof. 

who  carried  the  stones  on  their  heads  and  never  let  them 
once  touch  the  ground  on  their  way  to  their  destination — 
otherwise,  the  spell  was  broken  and  they  would  leave 
them  and  return  for  more.  Because  of  the  distance  to  the 
mountains,  stone  was  used  for  the  foundations  only. 

The  ground  floor  is  at  different  levels  in  the  various 


SAN  JOSE  DE  TUMACACORI,  looking  towards  the  entrance,  showing  the 

Choir  Loft. 


116  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

rooms,  due  to  the  structure  being  built  on  a  slight  hill, 
and  the  floors  of  the  rooms  afterwards  leveled  or  filled. 
The  floor  of  the  church  was  originally  made  of  flagstones, 
some  of  which  are  still  preserved  in  the  apse.  At  the  res- 
toration, wooden  floors  were  laid  throughout,  but  still 
at  different  levels. 

The  roof  with  the  huge  dome  and  also  the  choir  loft 
are  carried  completely  by  arches.  It  has  always  been  a 
question  just  how  the  arches  were  constructed.  The 
plaster  has  remained  intact,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to 
study  the  brick  work  directly,  but  we  may  reason  that  the 
arches  are  similar  to  those  which  we  see  in  ruin  at  Tuma- 
cacori.  The  latter  mission  was  copied  in  a  marked  degree 
from  San  Xavier  and  it  is  even  thought  that  its  brick  work 
was  done  by  the  Gaona  brothers.  A  large  stone  is  used 
for  the  keystone  and  the  bricks  arched  about  it.  In  a 
few  missions  we  find  the  smaller  arches  constructed  by 
laying  the  bricks  parallel  and  projecting  one  over  the  other 
until  the  two  sides  meet  at  the  center.  Trestles  were, 
no  doubt,  built  up  within  the  church  in  the  construction 
of  the  arches,  as  we  may  judge  from  the  mention  of  the 
many  trees  in  Kino's  letter;  though,  of  course,  they  have 
nearly  all  disappeared  today.  The  story  of  the  Pantheon 
of  Rome  has  been  cleverly  applied  to  San  Xavier  in  ac- 
counting for  the  height  attained  in  building  the  dome  and 
arches.  Baglioni  tells  us  how  the  interior  of  the  church 
was  filled  with  earth  in  order  to  reach  the  necessary  height 
to  build  the  dome.  Coins  had  been  secretly  hidden  in 
the  earth  and  when  the  church  was  declared  finished,  the 
fact  of  the  hidden  coins  was  made  known  and  the  diligent 
Italians  assiduously  set  to  work  to  find  the  coins  and 
thus  removed  the  earth  from  the  interior  of  the  church. 


CONSTRUCTION  OF  ARCHES,  SAN  JOSE  DE  TUMACACORI,  looking  towards 

the  Apse. 


118  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

The  story  is,  however,  a  little  far  fetched  in  its  application 
to  San  Xavier.  Had  the  place  been  filled  with  gold  the 
Indian  would  not  have  taken  the  trouble  to  remove  it. 

The  pendentives  and  groins  are  all  of  brick,  though  at 
Tumacacori  we  find  a  backing  of  timber  laid  across  the 
corner  of  the  two  adjoining  walls. 

The  stairs  in  the  towers  wind  about  in  the  walls  and  they 
too  are  of  brick.  The  ceiling  above  constantly  rises  to 
the  height  of  a  man  and  is  constructed  of  specially  formed 
bricks  to  allow  for  the  individual's  head.  No  bricks  appear 
to  have  been  cut  or  fashioned  after  the  burning  was  com- 
pleted. In  special  cases,  they  were  all  formed  first  in  the 
various  shapes,  often  really  complex,  and  then  burned 
in  the  kilns. 

The  plaster  was  allowed  to  "ripen"  in  large  pits  dug  for 
the  purpose,  so  says  tradition,  and  the  Gaona  brothers, 
in  the  meantime,  would  work  on  San  Jose  de  Tumacacori 
until  called  back  to  San  Xavier. 

One  should  note  that  the  doors  in  the  church-proper 
are  the  originals  and  are  still  hung  on  their  heavy  iron 
hinges  and  lock  with  the  same  huge  locks  and  latches, 
exactly  as  when  the  padres  left  them.  They  are  fashioned 
by  hand  from  the  tough  mesquite  wood,  and  held  together 
by  long  iron  nails.  Though  they  have  faced  all  kinds  of 
weather,  they  seem  none  the  worse  for  it.  They  are  of  a 
characteristic  design,  low  and  narrow,  with  heavy  stiles 
and  rails  enclosing  small  panels.  To  some  extent,  this 
type  of  door  was  determined  by  the  usual  limited  size  of 
the  mesquite  tree. 

Nearly  all  of  the  missions  have  long  since  lost  their 
doors  and  other  wood- work.  San  Gabriel  near  Los  Angeles, 
for  instance,  jealously  guards  an  old  door  (which,  by  the 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAC.  119 

way,  turns  on  iron  pivots  instead  of  hinges)  and  a  single 
window  showing  a  few  remaining  spindles.  San  Xavier 
alone  is  fortunate  in  retaining  today  most  of  its  wood-work. 

The  pulpit  is  a  noteworthy  object  and  displays  some 
clever  hand  carving,  considering  the  handicaps  under 
which  it  was  made.  It  is  substantially  constructed  of 
pine  and  put  together  with  wooden  pegs.  The  cabinets 
in  the  baptistry  and  sacristy  have  mesquite  doors,  the 
former  showing  evidences  of  a  heavy  dark  brown  glue. 
A  strip  of  mesquite  wood  is  embedded  on  the  edge  of  each 
tread  of  the  stairs  to  prevent  the  wearing  away  of  the  brick, 
and  the  purpose  has  been  remarkably  served. 

With  respect  to  the  metal  work,  little  can  be  said.  For 
the  most  part  it  is  unquestionably  brought  from  Mexico, 
especially  the  bells.  Little  use  of  it  has  been  made  other- 
wise, save  as  nails,  hinges  and  locks,  all  of  which  are  rather 
crude  and  hand-made.  The  latch  on  the  side  door  of  the 
nave  shows  some  simple  engraving. 

Practically  all  of  the  ornamentation  is  made  upon  the 
specially  formed  bricks.  In  other  words,  there  is  no  false- 
work; everything  is  solid.  The  main  decorative  feature 
of  the  interior,  namely,  the  Franciscan  "frieze,"  projects 
on  the  average  ten  inches  from  the  surface  of  the  wall, 
and  is  wholly  of  brick,  none  of  which  has  been  cut.  The 
method  followed  was  very  similar  to  the  method  employed 
today  in  the  setting  of  terra-cotta. 

The  altars  are  brick  with  the  smaller  arabesques  done 
in  plaster;  a  few  parts  are  of  wood  such  as  the  figures, 
candle  sticks,  and  small  cabinets. 

The  ornamental  feature  of  the  fachada  is  wholly  of  brick 
and  plaster,  and  at  one  time  was  highly  colored  to  repre- 
sent glazed  tile.  The  fantastic  columns,  so  prevalent  in 


120  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

Franciscan  architecture,  have  a  small  wooden  core  for 
re-enforcement. 

The  dormitory  wing  has  been  restored  again  and  again 
until  it  hardly  compares  with  the  early  drawings.  This 
is  accounted  for  by  its  being  built  entirely  of  adobe.  The 
windows  and  doors,  however,  have  always  remained  in  the 
same  relative  positions,  although  we  have  seen  that  they 
were  arched  at  one  time.  The  two  original  cloisters  are 
also  of  adobe  and  quite  unsymmetrical,  which  adds  greatly 
to  their  charm. 

The  roof  over  the  dormitory  wing  and  loggias  is  of  great 
interest,  as  it  has  really  never  been  disturbed,  save  by  the 
addition  of  a  super-roof  of  tin  which  serves  as  its  protection. 
Most  of  the  roofs  of  the  missions  have  either  disappeared 
in  the  Indian  raids,  from  the  fire  which  he  always  applied, 
or  have  fallen  in  through  decay.  The  very  factor  of  safety 
in  the  roof  at  San  Xavier  is  its  materials  of  construction,— 
mesquite  and  ocotilla — on  which  time  leaves  little  mark. 
The  mesquite  timbers,  about  six  inches  in  diameter,  are 
used  for  beams,  and  across  them  are  laid  the  stalks  of  the 
ocotilla.  Over  this  form  was  placed  soft  adobe  mixed 
with  leaves  and  reeds,  which  filled  all  cracks  and  dried, 
forming  a  solid  re-inforced  roof.  Over  this,  no  doubt,  some 
sort  of  tile  was  placed  similar  to  the  red  clay  tile  found  in 
the  California  missions. 

The  wall  about  the  fachada  and  mortuary  chapel  was  of 
stone  foundation  and  burned  brick,  and  plastered  to  corre- 
spond with  the  church.  It  fell  gradually  and  at  the  restora- 
tion was  rebuilt,  but  far  more  elaborately.  The  wall  at  the 
rear  of  the  buildings  was  constructed  in  much  the  same 
way,  though  perhaps  more  substantial,  because  of  its  de- 
fensive character. 


SAN   XAVIER   DEL   BAC. 


121 


The  mortuary  chapel  is  constructed  wholly  of  burned 
brick  upon  a  stone  foundation,  and  plastered.  At  the 
restoration  it  was  in  a  ruinous  state  and  the  refuge  of  hun- 
dreds of  bats,  a  fact  which  still  remains  fresh  in  the  minds 
of  the  old  residents  who  knew  the  place  as  children.  At 
that  time,  the  deserted  church  with  its  large  echoing  rooms 
filled  with  debris  and  the  haunts  of  bats,  made  a  lasting 
impression  on  their  young  minds. 

The  modern  work,  which  consists  of  the  north  dormitory 
wing  and  the  walls  at  the  front  and  rear,  is  very  well  done 
and  is  in  thorough  keeping  with  the  general  feeling  of  the 
place.  Brick  and  adobe  were  used  in  their  proper  place, 
so  that  one  does  not  feel  that  they  were  "tacked  on."  In 
fact,  it  is  a  puzzle  to  determine  just  where  the  new  work 
begins. 


AN  INDIAN  HOME  IN  THE  DESERT. 


1 


A  COMPLETE   LIST  OF  THE   MISSIONS   IN  THE 
SOUTHWEST. 

IN  compiling  the  list  of  missions,  I  have  consulted  Jesse 
S.  Hildrup's  work  on  "The  Missions  of  California  and  the 
Old  Southwest." 

THE  MISSIONS  OF  LOWER  CALIFORNIA. 

From  1683  for  nearly  one  hundred  years  the  Jesuits 
labored  successfully  in  this  field,  in  spite  of  the  degraded 
tribes  of  Indians  and  wastes  of  country.  In  1768  the 
Franciscans  took  the  field  and  they,  in  turn,  were  replaced 
by  the  Dominicans  in  1772. 

Name  Location 

LORETTO On  a  small  bay  near  Carmen. 

LA  PAZ One  hundred  miles  south  of  Lor- 

etto. 

SAN  Josfi  DE  COMONDU Sixty  miles  from  Loretto 

SAN  PUR!  SIMA  CONCEPCION  .  .  On    Pacific    coast    one    hundred 

miles  west  of  Mulege. 

SAN  GUADALUPE At  Huasiuipi. 

DOLORES Near  La  Paz. 

SANTA  ROSA On  Bay  of  Palms. 

SAN  IGNACIO .  Near  Kada  Kaaman. 

SAN  JOSE  DEL  CARO , .  At  Cape  St.  Lucas. 

SANTA  GERTRUDE North  of  San  Ignacio. 

ST.  FRANCIS  BORGIA At  Adac. 

SANTA  MARIA  (1767) On  thirty-first  parallel  of  latitude, 

twenty-five  miles  west  of  the  Gulf. 

125 


126  MISSION  ARCHITECTURE. 

THE  MISSIONS  OF  TEXAS. 
The  Franciscans  labored  almost  exclusively  in  this  region. 

Name  Date  of  Founding.  Location. 

OUR  LADY  OF  LORETTO 1621         On  Matagorda  Bay. 

LA  TRINIDAD 1691         On    the    Trinity   river 

near  town  of  Alabama 
— removed  to  Nacog- 
doches. 

SAN  FRANCISCO  SOLANO 1700        On    the    Rio    Grande 

("The  Alamo" — not  a  mis-  river    and    after    three 

sion  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  moves   settled   in   San 

word.)  Antonio. 

OUR  LADY  DE  LOS  DOLORES    .1715  (?)  On    the    Aco    Bayou, 

near  San  Agustine. 

OUR  LADY  OF  NACOGDOCHES  . .  1716        At  Nacogdoches. 
OUR  LADY  OF  ORGNIZACCO.  ..  .1716        On    the    San    Jacinto 

river. 

SAN  JOSE  DE  AGUAYO 1720        On    the    Bio    Grande 

river,  about  four  miles 
below  San  Antonio. 

ADAES 1718  (?)  On    the    Sabine    river, 

(Our  Lady  of  the  Pillar.)  near  Natchitoches  (?). 

LA  BAHIA 1718        At  Goliad. 

(Del  Espiritu  Santo.) 

SAN  FERNANDO 1730  (?)  San  Antonio. 

(Not  a  mission.) 

CONCEPCION    LA    PURISIMA    DE 

AcuffA 1731         (?) 

SAN  FRANCISCO  DE  LA  ESP  ADA.  1731  On  Medina  river,  re- 
moved to  San  Antonio. 

SAN  JUAN  CAPISTRANO 1732  On  Rio  Grande  river, 

six  miles  below  San 
Antonio. 


COMPLETE   LIST  OF   THE   MISSIONS.  127 

SAN  SABA 1734         In  Menard  County. 

SAN  ANTONIO  DE  BEXAR (?)  (?) 

OUR  LADY  OF  GUADALUPE  ....(?)  Victory  County   (Mis- 

sion Valley). 

Many  extensive  ruins  in  the  valley  bear  note  of  obscure 
missions. 

THE  MISSIONS  OF  NEW  MEXICO. 

The  Jesuits  labored  faithfully  in  this  region  until  1680, 
when  the  Zufii  Indians  revolted  against  the  tyranny  of 
the  Spanish  government.  All  the  padres,  along  with  the 
settlers,  were  massacred  and  the  missions  destroyed. 
A  few  unsuccessful  attempts  were  made  later  to  reclaim  the 
field. 

Name.  Location. 

QUARAI  (1630) Torrance. 

SENECA  (San  Antonio)  (1630). .  .  .Piros  nation. 

JEMEZ  (1630) Sandoval. 

SOCORRA Above  Semern. 

ALAMILLO  (Santa  Ana) Thirty-one    miles    above    So- 

corra. 

SEVILLETA  (San  Antonio) Tiguas  nation 

SANDIA  (San  Francisco) Tiguas  nation. 

PURAY  OR  PURNAY  (San  Barto- 

lome) Eleven    miles    from    Sandia 

(Alameda) . 

SANTO  DOMINGO Above  San  Felipe. 

SANTA  F£  VILLA  (1609) Eighty-one    miles    from    San 

Domingo. 
TESUQUE  (San  Lorenzo) Twenty-one  miles  from  Santa 

Fe. 
NAMBE  (San  Francisco) Thirty-one     miles     east    of 

Tesuque. 


128  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

ACOMA  (1630) On  Rock  of  Acoma  near 

Valencia. 

(The  only  mission  surviving  the  uprising  of  1680.) 

SAN  ILDEFONSO  (1696) Near  Santa  Fe. 

SANTA  CLARA Visita  of  Ildefonso. 

SAN  JUAN  DE  LOS  CABELLEROS  . .  Visita  of  Ildefonso. 

SAN  FELIPE  (1700) Between  Lamy  and  Albu- 
querque. 

TAGS  (1711). 

MISSIONS   AND   VlSITAS   IN   ARIZONA. 

Jesuit  Period  (1690-1768). 

It  is  impossible  to  arrange  a  complete  list  of  the  missions 
and  their  visitas  in  the  Jesuit  Period,  as  no  exact  record 
was  kept.  Father  Kino  placed  on  his  map  the  names  of 
many  Christian  settlements  which  ceased  to  exist  as  such, 
immediately  after  his  departure.  From  the  manuscripts 
and  legends,  along  with  the  remains  of  the  missions  them- 
selves, the  following  list  can  be  formed.  Just  which  ones 
were  ranked  as  missions  cannot  be  definitely  determined. 

Name.  Location. 

SAN  GABRIEL  DE  GUEVAVI  (1692)?.  .  .  .Northeast  of  Nogales. 
SAN  JOSE  DE  TUMACACORI  (1697)?.  .  .  .Two  miles  south  of  Tu- 

bac. 
SAN  XAVIER  DEL  BAG  (1700) Nine    miles    south    of 

Tucson. 

SAN  Luis  DE  BOCOANCO Near  Tumacacori. 

SAN  CAYETANO  DE  CALABAZAS  (1694). 

SANTA  GERTRUDES  DE  TUBAC Tubac. 

SAN  AUGUSTINE  DEL  OYAUT  (1699) ...  North  of  Tucson. 

SAN  COSME  DEL  TUCSON Across  Santa  Cruz  river 

and  to  south  of  present 

city  of  Tucson. 


COMPLETE   LIST   OF   THE    MISSIONS.  129 

SAN  SERAFIN. 
SAN  FRANCISCO. 
SANTA  ANA. 
ARIVACA. 

SANTA  CLARA Southwest  from  Tucson. 

SANTA  CATARINA Opposite  Picacho  Peak. 

MARVI Zuni  Country,  northern 

Arizona. 
M AHAUVE Zuni  Country,  northern 

Arizona. 
SAN  BERNARDINO  DEL  AWATABI Zuni  country,  northern 

Arizona. 
ORAIBI Zuni  country,  northern 

Arizona. 
MASHONGAMABI '.  . . .  .Zuni  country,  northern 

Arizona. 

Franciscan  Period  (1768-1826). 

The  information  regarding  the  missions  in  this  period 
is  given  in  the  "Estado  Actual  de  las  Missiones — ,"  by 
Fray  Antonio  de  los  Reyes,  in  which  he  gives  the  descrip- 
tion and  condition  of  the  eight  missions  in  Pimeria  Alta 
taken  over  by  the  Franciscans.  Only  two  missions  of  the 
eight  were  in  what  is  now  Arizona;  however,  the  complete 
list  will  be  given  with  their  visitas,  for  they  should  be  con- 
sidered  as  a  group.*  ^^ 

In  Arizona. 

I.  Los  Santos  Angeles  de  Guevavi.     (Name  changed  from 
San  Gabriel.) 

San  Cayetano  de  Calabazas. 
San  Jose  de  Tumacacori. 
San  MigueJ  de  Sonoitac. 
Santa  Gertrudes  de  Tubac. 

*  The  visitas  are  indented. 


130  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

II.  San  Xavier  del  Bac.     San  Jose   del  Tucson  (also  Escala 
Pura — probably  San  Cosme). 

In  Sonora. 

III.  Santa  Maria  de  Suamca. 

IV.  San  Ignacio  de  Caburica. 

San  Jose  de  Himuris. 

V.  Nuestra  Senora  de  Los  Dolores  del  Saric. 
Santa  Maria  Magdalena. 
San  Jose  de  Aquimuri. 
VI.  San  Pedro  y  San  Pablo  Tubutama. 

Santa  Teresa. 
VII.  San  Francisco  de  Ati. 

San  Antonio  de  Aquitoa. 
VIII.  Purisima  Concepcion  de  Caborca. 
San  Antonio  del  Pitiquin. 
San  Juan  del  Bisanig. 

i 
THE  MISSIONS  OF  CALIFORNIA  (ALTA). 

The  Franciscans  labored  exclusively  in  this  field. 

Name  Date  of  Founding.  Location. 

SAN  DIEGO 1769     San  Diego  Canon. 

SAN  CARLOS  BORREMEO 1770     Monterey. 

SAN  ANTONIO  DE  PADUA 1771     Los  Robles  Valley. 

SAN  GABRIEL 1771     Near  Los  Angeles. 

SAN  Luis  OBISPO  DE  TOLOSA  . .  1772     On  the  coast,  about  one 

hundred   and  twenty 
miles  south  of  the  Gulf 
of  Monterey. 

SAN  FRANCISCO  DE  Asis 1776     On  the  Bay  of  San  Fran- 
cisco. 

SAN  JUAN  CAPISTRANO 1776     Sixty-five  miles  south  of 

Los  Angeles. 

SANTA  CLARA 1777     Near  San  Jose. 

SAN  BUENAVENTURA 1782     Thirty    miles    southeast 

of  Santa  Barbara. 


COMPLETE   LIST   OF   THE    MISSIONS. 


131 


Name.  Date  of  Founding.  Location. 

SANTA  BARBARA 1782     Santa  Barbara. 

LA  PURISIMA  CONCEPCION 1787     On  the  Santa  Inez  river. 

SANTA  CRUZ 1791     On  the  Bay  of  Monterey. 

LA  SOLEDAD 1791     Between  the  Missions  of 

San   Antonio   de   Padua 
and  Santa  Clara. 

SAN  JOSE : 1797     San  Jose. 

SAN  JUAN  BAUTISTA 1797     San  Benito. 

SAN  MIGUEL 1797     One  hundred  and  twenty 

miles  north  of  Santa  Bar- 
bara. 

SAN  FERNANDO  BEY 

(Bey  de  Espagna) 1797     North    of   Los   Angeles, 

enclosed  by  San  Fernan- 
do and  Cuyhengo  ranges. 

SAN  Luis  (Bey  de  Francia) ....  1798     Oceanside. 

SAN  JOSE  DE  GUADALUPE 1797     Twenty  miles  northeast 

of  San  Jose. 

SANTA  INEZ 1804    About  forty  miles  north- 
east of  Santa  Barbara. 

SAN  BAFAEL,  ARCHANGEL 1817     North  side  of  San  Fran- 
cisco Bay. 

CHAPELS 

SAN  ANTONIO  DE  PALA 1816    Visita  of  San  Luis  Bey. 

SAN  FRANCISCO  SOLANO 1824 

SAN  MIGUEL 1803     Visita  of  Santa  Barbara. 

SAN  MIGUELITO 1809    Visita  of  San  Luis  Obispo. 

SANTA  ISABEL 1822     Visita  of  San  Diego. 

SANTO  DOMINGO  Visita  of  San  Diego. 

Los  ANGELES 1822 

SAN  BERNARDINO  (Politana)  Visita  of  San  Gabriel. 

Ruins  of  an  obscure  chapel  exist  in  the  San  Margarita 
Valley,  in  San  Luis  Obispo  County. 


A  BIBLIOGRAPHY   OF   THE   MORE   IMPORTANT 

MANUSCRIPTS     AND     BOOKS     PERTAINING 

TO  THE  SUBJECT. 

MANUSCRIPTS 
Alegre. 

"Historia  de  la  Compaiiia  Jesus."     Mex.,  1841. 
Arricivita. 

"Corona  Serafica  del  Collegio  de  Santa  Cruz  de  Queretaro." 
A  history  of  the  missions  in  Pimeria  Alta  during  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Franciscan  Fathers. 
Benavides,  Alonzo  de. 

"Memorial  que  Fray  Ivan  de  Santandes  de  la  orden  de  San 
Francisco,  comissario  general  de  Indias,  presenta  a  la 
Magestad  catolica  del  rey  Don  Felipe  Quarto  nuestro 
senor.  Hecho  por  el  padre  fray  Alonzo  de  Benavides." 
En  Madrid  en  la  Imprenta  real.  Ano  M.  DC.  xxx  (p.  [79] 
183). 

Tr.  into  English  by  Mrs.  Edward  E.  Ayer,  Chicago,  Priv. 
print.     [R.  R.  Donnelley  and  Sons  Company]  1916.     The 
memorial  of  Fray  Alonzo  de  Benavides  (1630)  dealing  with 
the  Franciscans  in  New  Mexico  about  1630. 
Garces,  Francisco. 

"Diario  y  derrotero  que  siguio  el  M.  R.  P.  Fr.  Francisco 
Garces  en  su  viaje  hecho  desde  Octubre  de  1775  hasta  17  de 
Septiembre  de  1776."  Printed  in  1854  in  2nd  ser.,  v.  1 
(pp.  225-374)  of  "Documentos  para  la  historia  de  Mexico." 
Translated  into  English  from  an  official  contemporaneous 
copy  of  the  original  Spanish  manuscript.  .  .  .  New  York, 
F.  P.  Harper,  1900. 

The   Diary  and   Itinerary   of  Francisco   Garces  in  his 
travels  through  Sonora,  Arizona,  and  California,  1775-1776. 

132 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  133 

Kino,  Ensebio. 

"Favores  Celestiales  de  Jesus  y  de  Maria  SSmo  y  del  Gloriosis- 
r      simo  Apostol  de  las  Yndias  ..."  parte  V.     (Manuscript 
in  the  Archive   General  y  Publico,   Mexico,   Section  de 
Misiones,  vol.  27.) 

A  history  by  Father  Kino  of  his  work  in  Pimeria  Alta 
from  1687-1710.  It  was  used  by  early  Jesuit  historians, 
especially  Ortega,  and  discovered  recently  by  Dr.  Herbert 
E.  Bolton  of  the  University  of  California.  (See  under  the 
following  list  of  "Books,"  "Father  Kino's  Lost  History, 
its  Discovery  and  its  Value,"  and  "Spanish  Exploration  in 
the  Southwest,"  both  by  Dr.  Herbert  E.  Bolton.) 
Manje. 

"Luz  de  Tierra  Incognita,"  libro  II.     Printed  in  Hist.  Doc. 

of  Mex.  cuarto  serie,  tomo  I.,  Mex.,  1856). 
Ortega,  Francisco  de. 
"Apostolicos  Afanes  de  la  Compania  de  Jesus"  Barcelona, 

754  Mex.,  1887. 
Reyes,  Antonio  de  los. 

' '  Del  Estado  Actual  de  las  Missiones  que  en  la  Gubernacion 
de  Sonora  Administian  los  Padres  del  Colegio  de  Propaganda 
Fide  de  la  Santa  Cruz  de  Queretaro."  1772. 

A  report  of  one  of  the  Sonora  missionaries  on  the  condition 
of  the  missions  in  Pimeria  Alta  and  Baja  in  charge  of  the 
Franciscans. 

See  under  following  list  of  "Books,"   "Franciscans  in 
Arizona"  by  Fr.  Zephyrin  Engelhardt.) 
Venegas  (Burriel). 

"Noticia  de  la  Calif."     Madrid,  1757. 
"Rudo  Ensayo,"  1672. 

A  geographical  description  of  Pimeria  Alta,  dealing  also  with 
the  missions;  written  by  a  Jesuit  Father. 


134  MISSION   ARCHITECTURE. 

BOOKS 
Bancroft,  Hubert  Howe. 

4 'The  works  of  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft"  in  39  vols.     San 
Francisco,  A.  L.  Bancroft  and  Co.,  1882-90.     Vols.  9-24 
deal  with  Southwestern  History. 
Bolton,  Herbert  E. 

"Father  Kino's  Lost  History,  its  Discovery,  and  its  Value." 
In  "Papers"  of  the  Bibliographical  Society  of  America. 
VI.  (10-13). 

"Spanish  Exploration  in  the  Southwest."     New  York,  Chas. 
Scribner's  Sons,  1916. 

Contains  translations  of  original  narratives  of  the  early 
history  of  the  Southwest,  with  notes  by  the  author.  Pp. 
430-432,  List  of  Father  Kino's  writings  available  to  scholars. 
Pp.  433-462,  Partial  translation  of  Father  Kino's  "lost" 
manuscript. 
Burke,  John  G. 

"On  the  Border  with  Crook."     New  York,  Chas.  Scribner's 

Sons,  1896. 
Browne,  J.  Ross. 

"Adventures  in  the  Apache  Country."     New  York,  Harper 

Bros.,  1869. 
Engelhardt,  Zephyrin. 

"Franciscans    in    Arizona."     Harbor    Springs,    Mich.,    Holy 
Childhood  Indian  School,  1899. 

A  History  of  the  work  among  the  missions  in  Arizona, 
and  description  of  the  missions  in  1772.     Contains  trans- 
lation of  "Del  Estado  Actual  de  las  Misiones." 
"Missions  and  Missionaries  of  California."     Harbor  Springs, 
Mich.,  Holy  Childhood  Indian  School,  1899. 
"Franciscans  in  New  Mexico." 
Hinton,  Richard  J. 

"Handbook  to  Arizona."     New  York,   Payot,  Upham  and 
Co.,  1878. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  135 

Salpointe,  J.  B. 

"Soldiers   of   the    Cross."     Banning,    Calif.,    St.    Boniface's 

Industrial  School,  1898. 
Saunders,  Charles  Francis. 

"Franciscans  in  California."     Boston  and  New  York,  Hough- 
ton,  Mifflin  Company,  1915. 
Winship,  George  Parker. 
The  Coronado  Expedition,  1540-1542. 

"Fourteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  1892-93," 
By  J.  W.  Powell,  Director.  .  .  .  Washington,  Gov.  Printing 
Office,  1892. 


